President Moon to meet leaders of 5 parties to discuss N. Korea, national security

  • 6 years ago
President Moon Jae-in is holding a luncheon meeting at the Blue House with the leaders of South Korea's five major political parties.
It's the first time all five leaders of the ruling and opposition parties will be present since President Moon took office around ten months ago.
We connect to our National Assembly correspondent Kim Min-ji on the phone for details.
Min-ji, fill us in.

Mark.
The luncheon meeting is underway now.
It's the third meeting of its kind since President Moon took office in May last year -- and the first time the leader of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party will join the gathering.
Hong Joon-pyo -- the conservative party chair -- had boycotted two previous meetings -- citing disagreements the party has with some of the president's key policies,... as well as refusing to be part of what he claimed was a "political show."

He said this time he would attend given the gravity of the security situation on the peninsula.... and requested the topics for discussion remain limited to security and inter-Korean issues.
In fact, on the table today, is expected to be recent developments in cross-border relations -- especially with signs of a thaw following the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.
President Moon is expected to update them on the developments and ask for cooperation from all the parties.
And as the meeting comes just a day after the South Korean delegation returned from their visit to North Korea,... the president will likely further explain the details of his administration's agreements with the North.
National Security Adviser Chung Eui-yong will also brief them on the outcome his talks with the North Korean leader.

That's about all we know for now,... but each party will be giving respective press briefings once the luncheon meeting is over so I will have more on that in our later newscast.

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