President Yoon, PPP chief Han meet over lunch in apparent bid to thaw relations

Politics

Published: 29 Jan. 2024, 14:12 Updated: 29 Jan. 2024, 16:19

President Yoon, PPP chief Han meet over lunch in apparent bid to thaw relations

People Power Party interim leader Han Dong-hoon, left, greeted by President Yoon Suk Yeol at the president's office in Yongsan, Seoul, on Monday. The meeting between the two men took place a week after they met at a market in Seocheon County, South Chungcheong, that was destroyed by a fire. [PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE]

People Power Party (PPP) interim leader Han Dong-hoon and President Yoon Suk Yeol met over lunch at the presidential office in Seoul on Monday in an apparent bid to mend relations frayed over the first lady.

Yoon called for stronger cooperation between the party and government, stressing that both sides should "redouble their efforts to improve the people's livelihood in tangible ways," said Lee Do-woon, Yoon's spokesperson.

Yoon met with Han and the PPP floor leader Yun Jae-ok for two hours over lunch, Lee said, adding that the discussions continued for another 40 minutes over tea and coffee.

"The three discussed in depth various issues pertaining to the public's livelihood, including housing, transportation and below-ground railways," Lee said.

The presidential office did not mention whether Han and Yoon discussed their disagreements over the first lady.

“It is not unusual for the president and the ruling party leader to have lunch together,” Han told reporters at the PPP's headquarters in Yeouido, western Seoul, on Monday morning before the lunch.

The party's floor leader told reporters that the president's office had requested the luncheon.

The luncheon meeting came within a week of the duo’s meeting at a disaster site last Tuesday following a fire that destroyed a traditional market in Seocheon, South Chunghcheong.

The two men appeared to have resolved their differences regarding allegations that the first lady, Kim Keon Hee, received a 3-million-won ($2,000) Christian Dior bag from a Korean-American pastor as a gift in September 2022.

In November, a liberal YouTube news channel, Voice of Seoul, aired a secretly taped video of Kim receiving the gift from the pastor, which the YouTubers themselves had purchased.

The same group of YouTubers had previously covertly recorded numerous phone conversations with the first lady when President Yoon was running as a PPP candidate in the 2022 presidential election, later releasing them publicly during the election.

The president's office has refused to address the issue, asserting that the YouTubers had staged the situation maliciously.

However, tensions between Yoon and Han surfaced when one of the party's emergency steering committee members picked by Han compared the first lady to Marie Antoinette and raised the need to address the bag issue, citing parallels with the lead-up to the French Revolution.

Han was Yoon's justice minister and his subordinate when they worked together at the prosecutors' office.

Earlier this month, the presidential office asked Han to step down as the PPP's interim leader over his handling of the allegations against the first lady.

Han announced on Jan. 21 that he had no intentions of doing so.

In their meeting on Monday, the trio also shared views on the recent series of physical attacks on politicians, according to the presidential office.

The PPP Rep. Bae Hyun-jin was attacked with a rock by an underage assailant in Sinsa-dong, Gangnam District, in southern Seoul last Thursday.

The attack took place not long after Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung was stabbed in the neck by a 67-year-old man during a visit to Busan on Jan. 2.

Yoon called on relevant ministries to craft prompt responses, Lee said.

Yoon and the PPP leaders also vowed to continue cooperating on the Serious Accident Punishment Act.

Small businesses began to be subject to the industrial accidents law starting last Saturday, despite President Yoon's call for an extension of the rule’s grace period.

The PPP and Democratic Party lawmakers have been at loggerheads over the grace period for the legislation's application to small businesses.

In January 2022, the same law was enacted for bigger companies, holding employers liable for fatal on-site accidents caused by insufficient safety measures. Employers who violate the law face a one-year minimum prison term or a fine of up to 1 billion won ($750,000).

BY ESTHER CHUNG [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]