From Party Leadership Rivals to All Lawmakers... Lee Accelerates 'Unity Drive' After Convention

Dinner with Kim Min-seok Leadership on the 25th
Lunch with All Democratic Party Lawmakers on the 28th
Directly Easing Post-Convention Tensions and Supporting the Stabilization of the Kim Min-seok Team
Laying the Groundwork for Party-Blue House Cooperation Ahead of the Regular Assembly Session

President Lee Jae-myung, following the newly elected leadership of the Democratic Party of Korea, will invite all of the party’s lawmakers to the Blue House in succession. Having already gathered the party leadership rivals immediately after the August 17 national convention, he is now broadening the contact base to include both the entire leadership and all lawmakers. This move is seen as an effort to quickly heal the aftereffects of the fiercely contested party convention and to directly strengthen internal unity, which is critical to supporting governance in the administration’s second year.

President Lee Jae-myung is taking a commemorative photo ahead of the Democratic Party of Korea's party leader and candidate dinner meeting held at the Blue House on the 19th. From right to left: candidate Chung Cheong-rae, President Lee Jae-myung, Representative Kim Min-seok, candidate Song Young-gil. August 19, 2026, Yonhap News Agency. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

According to the Blue House and the Democratic Party on August 24, President Lee will invite Kim Min-seok, the new party leader, along with the rest of the leadership team, to the Blue House for a dinner on the 25th. Party leader Kim, floor leader Han Byung-do, the supreme council members, and key party officials are expected to attend. Four days later, on the 28th, all Democratic Party members of the National Assembly will be invited to the Blue House state guesthouse for a lunch. The lawmakers are scheduled to head to the Blue House directly after completing a two-day workshop in Incheon, which starts on the 27th, in preparation for the regular session of the National Assembly. It will be the first time in about a year, since last August, that President Lee has had a group meal with Democratic Party lawmakers, and all 161 lawmakers are expected to attend.

Notably, this series of meetings has been held in close succession around the August 17 national convention. On August 19, two days after the national convention, President Lee invited not only party leader Kim but also candidates Chung Cheong-rae and Song Young-gil, both of whom had competed for party leadership, to the Blue House for dinner. On that occasion, President Lee referred to all three as "key players responsible for the people’s government" and urged, "Let us work together as one." He also described the "government, legislature, and Blue House as a community of shared destiny and governing partners entrusted with a historic mission."

This was interpreted as a message that he would not prolong the internal factional conflict that surfaced during the national convention process. While party leader Kim secured the leadership, three of the five elected supreme council members—Choi Min-hee, Lee Sung-yoon, and Han Min-soo—are classified as being aligned with the pro-Chung Cheong-rae faction. The remaining two, Park Sun-won and Seo Mi-hwa, are considered pro-Lee Jae-myung members. As fierce exchanges between party leadership contenders and their support bases continued through the race, uniting the party after the convention emerged as the first task for the new leadership.

President Lee has reiterated calls for unity since the party convention. In his video address to the convention, he said, "Our Democratic Party has always been strongest when united," and stressed, "From today, we must unite firmly around the new leadership." The next day, at a Cabinet meeting, he emphasized, "There may be disagreements and conflicts, but broadly speaking, we are a community of shared destiny." Through a series of meetings, he is now following up on his words of unity with concrete actions.

The President’s proactive outreach to expand internal unity also reflects his intent to facilitate an early stabilization for the Kim Min-seok leadership. During the national convention, party leader Kim underscored the need for alignment between the party and the Blue House, setting the success of the Lee Jae-myung administration as the party’s top priority. Given that the previous leadership and the Blue House were often at odds over issues like prosecution reform and party management, the start of this new leadership team has further increased the need to put party-government relations on a stable footing.

Furthermore, with the regular National Assembly session scheduled for September, major policy challenges are awaiting parliamentary approval—including tax reform, housing supply, legislation related to mega projects, and follow-up measures after amendments to the criminal procedure law. The two-day Democratic Party workshop for lawmakers, which will be held before the luncheon on the 28th, is also aimed at formulating legislative strategy for the regular session. It remains to be seen whether President Lee’s series of "diplomacy through shared meals" will bring an end to the leadership contest and establish a "one team" governance structure for the administration’s second year.

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