New conservative party leader meets rival party counterpart for the first time

The meeting between Han Dong-hoon, former Justice Minister and prosecutor, and DP leader Lee Jae-myung, who is currently involved in several trials, including the Daejang-dong development scandal, has piqued interest.

From left, Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung and People Power Party interim leader Han Dong-hoon shakes hands before a meeting at the DP's National Assembly office in Yeouido, Seoul, on Friday. [YONHAP]

Han Dong-hoon, the recently appointed head of the People Power Party's emergency steering committee, met with Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the opposing Democratic Party, on Friday.

This gathering between the leaders of South Korea's largest political parties marks the first encounter since Han, a former justice minister, officially assumed his role as the new head of the conservative party on Wednesday.

"I truly appreciate your willingness to meet with me,” Han said at the meeting at the DP's office in Yeouido, Seoul, while expressing gratitude for the meeting despite its short notice due to his sudden appointment

“I hope we can engage in a constructive dialogue as leaders of political parties, transcending our differences, to pursue politics that serve the people,” he added.

Lee, extending a welcome to the new interim leader of the People Power Party, responded by emphasizing the role of politics in safeguarding the nation and taking responsibility for enhancing the lives of the people.

““Even with differing viewpoints, our obligation is to diligently fulfill the trust placed in us by the people,” Lee said. “The DP is ready to collaborate with the PPP.”

The meeting unfolded in a cordial manner despite the historical tensions between the former justice minister and the DP.

However, up until the meeting tensions were high between the two leaders.

However, tensions were intense between the two leaders leading up to the meeting.

On Wednesday, the former justice minister, who was a former prosecutor, criticized the DP for having Lee as their leader.

“Until now, I have only been on the receiving end of questions posed by DP lawmakers,” Han said. "This time, I would like to pose a question: If the DP is so critical of prosecutors, then why do you have the person who impersonated a prosecutor as your supreme leader?"

The former justice minister was referring to Lee being fined 1.5 million won in 2003 for collaborating with a TV producer in impersonating a prosecutor during a call to the then Seongnam city mayor. Lee had claimed that he was being framed.

On Friday morning, ahead of the meeting, the DP chief said that the new PPP emergency steering committee head showed no interest in cooperating with the DP.

"It seems that he has absolutely no intention of cooperating," Lee said. "The head of the PPP is only busy criticizing the DP."

He said that the PPP had never expressed a desire to collaborate and accused the rival party of solely focusing on opposing and rejecting the DP.

"Instead of functioning as the governing party, they are behaving more like a minority opposition party," Lee said.

Although Han had never clashed directly with the DP chief, he had frequently become a target for DP lawmakers, including Choi Kang-wook and Kim Eui-kyeom, who made false claims such as alleging that he went out drinking with President Yoon Suk Yeol and 30 or so lawyers from Korea's prominent law firm Kim & Chang.

Han had twice sought approval from the National Assembly for an arrest warrant against the DP chief.

By law, the approval of the National Assembly is required for an arrest warrant motion for a sitting lawmaker.

The accusations against the chief included involvement in various controversial cases, particularly several development projects approved during Lee's tenure as Seongnam city mayor.

The most notorious among them was the Daejang-dong scandal, wherein significant profits from the project development approved by Lee went to the private developers led by former journalist Kim Man-bae.

Several members of the private developers, who are on trial, have claimed that they were told that a significant portion of the profit from the development, whose structure was designed and plan approved by Lee, was actually owed to Lee and his close aides.

Kim Yong, who served as the spokesperson at the Gyeonggi government during Lee's tenure as the province governor and was a close aide to the DP chief, was recently sentenced to five years on charges of illegal political funds and bribery..

Kim was convicted of receiving 600 million won from the Daejang-dong private developers in 2021.

The prosecutors' office argued that these funds were used in supporting Lee's campaign during the primaries for the party's presidential candidacy.

Other accusations against Lee, as outlined in the arrest warrant motion presented by Han at the National Assembly, encompassed a quid pro quo football team sponsorship involving prominent Korean businesses such as Naver and Doosan.

While the National Assembly narrowly denied the first arrest warrant motion against Lee, which was requested by the prosecutors' office in February, the second motion in September was approved.

However, the judge overseeing the second arrest warrant, Yoo Chang-hoon, rejected the prosecutors' office request.

The judge stated that while the accusation that Lee had coerced a witness in a previous trial, in which he was acquitted, appeared substantial, considering Lee's status as a high-profile politician whose actions are closely followed by the public, it was unlikely that he would either go into hiding or destroy evidence.

BY LEE HO-JEONG [lee.hojeong@joongang.co.kr]