President Lee Meets Kim, Jeong, and Song Just Two Days After Convention to Avert Post-Convention Fallout

Kim Minseok, Jeong Cheongrae, and Song Younggil to Dine at the Blue House on the 19th
Winners and Losers Gather Together... Accelerating the "One Team" Effort Compared to Last Year
Kim Emerges Victorious, but Party Unity Remains an Urgent Task

President Lee Jae-myung will invite Jeong Cheongrae and Song Younggil—who competed with Kim Minseok, the new leader of the Democratic Party—to the Blue House for a dinner meeting on the 19th. This meeting comes only two days after the party convention.

The leadership race, which lasted over a month, escalated into a power struggle between the pro-Lee (Lee Jae-myung) faction and the pro-Jeong (Jeong Cheongrae) faction, leaving considerable scars. By bringing both the winner and the defeated together so soon, President Lee is seen as seeking to swiftly move past the convention period and rebuild a unified "one team" to power through his administration’s second year. A Blue House official stated, "President Lee set this meeting in advance regardless of the convention result," and added, "This will be an occasion to urge intra-party unity and request cooperation on the many urgent national issues facing the administration."

President Lee Jae-myung is speaking at the 1st Eulji Cabinet Meeting held at the Blue House on the 18th. August 18, 2026. Photo by Blue House Press Photographers Group Yonhap News Agency

This dinner holds particular significance, as President Lee has been emphasizing "unity" continuously since the convention. In his video address to the convention on the 17th, President Lee said, "Our Democratic Party has always been strongest when united," and added, "We have competed and debated intensely in true Democratic Party fashion, but from today, we must once again come together tightly around the new leadership." His message was to put aside the logic of competition and move on to an era of collaboration for policy achievements now that the leadership race is over.

Former President Moon Jae-in also directly warned about the aftereffects of the convention in his video address. He said, "It is true that I am deeply concerned watching this party convention," and continued, "If we continue like this, it will be disastrous." He stressed that competition should not lead to divisions in the party, urging everyone to accept the results and embrace each other. Both the sitting and former presidents called with one voice for "unity."

Voter sentiment in this convention was not overwhelmingly on one side. Kim Minseok ultimately defeated Jeong Cheongrae by winning 54.08% to 45.92% after the preferential voting, but among the five new Supreme Council members, Choi Minhee, Lee Sungyun, and Han Minsu—who supported Jeong—were elected. Together with Park Sunwon and Seo Mihwa, who are considered pro-Lee, they form the new party leadership. Although Kim Minseok won the party leadership, the two factions evident in the convention continue to coexist within the party’s top leadership. Kim’s immediate embrace of Jeong Cheongrae and Song Younggil—saying, "I will move forward together with Jeong Cheongrae and Song Younggil"—reflects the current political landscape.

At the cabinet meeting on the 18th, President Lee extended his call for unity beyond the Democratic Party itself. He stated, "Even if we belong to different parties, or camps, and have fiercely competed, we are partners who share a joint responsibility to the people and nation," addressing the political community as a whole and urging cooperation. He further said, "We are all a community of destiny, bound to join forces for the people's better lives and the country's brighter future," and emphasized the need to escape from "utterly unproductive political infighting that ignores the people's lives and treats each other as enemies."

After last year's party convention, President Lee similarly invited then-rival candidate Jeong Cheongrae and Park Chan-dae to the official residence for a meal, asking for their unity. However, unlike last year, when the meeting took place ten days after the convention, this year’s gathering will occur just two days afterward, which observers interpret as reflecting President Lee’s strong determination to eliminate any aftereffects at an early stage.

Kim Minseok, the newly appointed leader of the Democratic Party, is greeting party members together with Jeong Cheongrae (left) and Song Younggil after being elected as the party leader at the 3rd Democratic Party Regular National Party Members' Convention held at the Daejeon Convention Center on August 17, 2026. Photo by Yonhap News Agency [Joint Coverage]

Going forward, Kim Minseok faces the task of uniting both the pro-Lee and pro-Jeong camps and their supporters into a genuinely single team. At the same time, he must keep pace with the Blue House while also delivering public sentiment unfiltered as the ruling party leader—a widely shared view. With President Lee entering his second year in office, the need to achieve tangible results on critical livelihood and economic reforms, founded on party unity, is even greater.

A senior official of the ruling bloc emphasized, "This dinner will likely mark the first pivotal scene to determine whether the Democratic Party can end the era of factional rivalry and return to a period when the party and Blue House govern together. The party must now regain the trust of both members and the public by showing true unity that transcends factional lines."

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