South Korean President to Host Dinner for New Party Leader and Rivals

South Korean President Lee Jae-myung is set to host a dinner on August 19 with the newly elected leader of the Democratic Party, Kim Min-seok, along with rival candidates Chung Sye-kyun and Song Young-gil. The gathering aims to solidify party unity and enhance collaboration between the party, government, and the presidential office on national affairs.

Kim Min-seok secured the party leadership with 54.08% of the vote in the August 17 party convention. Chung Sye-kyun received 45.92%. The election utilized a preferential voting system, redistributing votes from the first-choice candidate of Song Young-gil's supporters to their second choices when no candidate secured an outright majority in the initial count.

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From today, we must unite as one under the new leadership.

The convention was marked by concerns over intense factional conflict between pro-Lee Jae-myung (pro-Lee) and pro-Chung Sye-kyun (pro-Chung) factions. President Lee emphasized party harmony in a video address, urging the party to unite under the new leadership starting immediately.

The presidential office stated the dinner is intended to foster unity and strengthen the government-party cooperation for addressing public livelihood and economic issues.

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This dinner is prepared to foster party unity and further solidify inter-party and government cooperation to address public livelihood and economic issues.