Jeong Cheongrae Meets Former President Moon Jaein Immediately After Stepping Down as Party Leader

Meeting at the Seoul International Book Fair
Jeong: "He warmly held my hand"

Chung Cheong-rae, who stepped down from his position as leader of the Democratic Party, met with former President Moon Jae-in on June 24.

Former Democratic Party leader Chung Cheong-rae is talking with former President Moon Jae-in at the Seoul International Book Fair held at COEX, Gangnam-gu, Seoul on the 24th. Former President Moon attended the book fair as a bookstore manager for Pyeongsan Bookstore again this year, following last year. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

On this day, former leader Chung visited the Seoul International Book Fair held at COEX in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, and had a conversation with former President Moon for about 10 minutes.

After the conversation, Chung told reporters, "I bought the books of the four presidents—Kim Dae-jung, Roh Moo-hyun, Moon Jae-in, and Lee Jae-myung—as they were displayed at the fair."

He continued, "While buying the books, I told former President Moon that as my statement upon stepping down, I believe we should nurture Lee Jae-myung’s history by drawing from the legacy of Kim Dae-jung, Roh Moo-hyun, and Moon Jae-in. He replied, 'You did well.'"

Chung also said, "I did not coordinate my schedule with former President Moon in advance. I had originally planned to visit Pyeongsan Village to greet him today, but when I heard he would be here, I came instead. Former President Moon probably didn’t know about it until this morning."

He added, "Since I showed up unexpectedly, I felt like I might be disrupting his work, so I said, 'I should leave soon.' But he told me, 'You have to hear this explanation before you go.'"

"I was very happy to see him again after such a long time, and he seemed to be in good health. He warmly held my hand, and I could feel his warmth," Chung said.

Former President Moon is participating in the book fair as the manager of Pyeongsan Bookstore and plans to stay in Seoul for two days from the afternoon of June 24.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.