Representative Lee Jae-myung met with President Yoon during a pre-budget speech talk...``We need measures for people's livelihoods'' = South Korea

South Korean President Yoon Seo-gyeol and Lee Jae-myung, representative of the opposition Democratic Party of Korea, met at the National Assembly on the 31st. Since the current government was inaugurated, President Yoon and Representative Lee have virtually
This is the first place to communicate. Until now, President Yoon and Representative Lee had only met each other at government memorial ceremonies and exchanged short greetings.
President Yoon spoke about next year's government budget bill held in the National Assembly plenary session today.
He attended a ``preliminary chat with 5 VIPs and leaders of the ruling and opposition parties'' in the pre-chamber session with the Speaker of the National Diet before his policy speech. At the meeting, President Yoon requested the National Assembly's cooperation in drafting a budget bill.
Representative Lee also attended this meeting. Representative Lee was reported to have ordered the government to take measures to restrict civilian livelihoods at the meeting.
This is the first time that President Yoon and Representative Lee have met during a pre-budget talk session. In President Yoon's first government address in October last year, Representative Lee
Not only that, all members of the Democratic Party of Japan did not attend the policy speech, and the two sides did not meet face-to-face even at the preliminary meeting. At that time, the Democratic Party of Japan demanded omnidirectional investigations and audits by the prosecutors and the Board of Audit against the opposition parties.
In response, they launched the first ``boycott'' in the history of the Japanese Constitution. It was reported that there was a movement within the Democratic Party leadership to prevent Lee from attending this roundtable. Representative Lee becomes President Yoon
The decision was made based on the judgment that it would be of no practical benefit to appear at the table for a ``tripartite meeting'' between the president and representatives of the ruling and opposition parties, which he had proposed, without receiving any response.
However, Representative Lee directly urges President Yoon to change the tone of national politics and takes a position that puts pressure on communication with the opposition parties.
This can be interpreted as a decision to attend based on the possibility that he/she may be able to attend. In addition, it is an old tradition in the National Assembly to attend a preparatory meeting before the president's budget speech, but Representative Lee was absent for the second consecutive year.
The burden of doing so may also have played a role. A source from the party representative's office said, ``Rather than what kind of things Representative Lee will talk about or request in this room, his presence itself sends a message.''
"This decision was made with the people in mind, not the other party, in mind, and the intention was to give the other party an opportunity for cooperative governance."