Yoon, Daegu mayor discussed prime minister post at meeting: PPP official

President Yoon Suk Yeol, right, speaks to Daegu Mayor Hong Joon-pyo during an event at the Daegu Expo on Nov. 7, 2023. [YONHAP]

President Yoon Suk Yeol met with Daegu Mayor Hong Joon-pyo on Tuesday and discussed the general election results, according to a high-ranking People Power Party (PPP) official on Thursday.

Yoon had been seeking a meeting with Hong before the April 10 general election, but Hong reportedly said he had nothing to advise Yoon on until the results were out. Hong offered advice on who to appoint as the new prime minister and chief of staff during Tuesday's dinner meeting, which lasted about four hours, according to the PPP official.

Hong, a former prosecutor and five-term lawmaker, is a prominent figure in the PPP and was also a presidential candidate in 2017 and a runner-up in the PPP's primary in 2022, losing to Yoon.

“President Yoon mainly asked questions related to current political issues, and Mayor Hong answered with no other attendees present during the dinner,” the official said to the JoongAng Ilbo, an affiliate of the Korea JoongAng Daily.

Since the meeting took place after the PPP’s crushing defeat in the general election, Yoon and Hong also talked about reorganizing the presidential staff and the cabinet. Hong is said to have advised that the next prime minister should be “someone who can communicate with the opposition party and is not too ambitious” and that the chief of staff should have “excellent political sense” and be “loyal to the president.”

Some have speculated that Hong had recommended Park Young-sun, former Minister of SMEs and Startups under the Moon Jae-in administration, and Yang Jung-chul, former head of the Institute for Democracy, a think tank under the opposition Democratic Party, as reports have emerged that Park and Yang had been tapped as prime minister and chief of staff, respectively.

The high-ranking PPP official vehemently denied the speculation as “ridiculous,” saying that “Mayor Hong recommended several other people with extensive political experience” to Yoon. Who exactly Hong recommended for the positions has not been revealed, according to JoongAng Ilbo. However, TV Chosun reported that Hong recommended former lawmaker Kim Han-gil as prime minister and Rep. Chang Je-won as chief of staff to Yoon.

There was also speculation in the conservative camp that Yoon may have asked Hong to serve as prime minister. On April 11, right after the general election, Lee Jun-seok, leader of the Reform Party, suggested appointing Hong as prime minister "to share a significant portion of state affairs.” Lee also argued that if Yoon fails to select the right person as prime minister, “expectations for his administration will sink even more rapidly.”

However, Yoon did not ask Hong to be prime minister at Tuesday’s dinner meeting, according to multiple officials. Hong also reportedly told those close to him recently that “now is not my time.”

This was the first publicized meeting between Yoon and Hong since the former took office. The two previously met on Jan. 19, 2022, when Yoon was a presidential candidate. At the time, former lawmaker and former prosecutor Ham Seung-hee arranged the meeting.

BY LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]