(ATTN: UPDATES with details throughout; ADDS photo)
SEOUL, Sept. 23 (Yonhap) — The presidential office said Monday that President Yoon Suk Yeol’s possible solo meeting with ruling People Power Party (PPP) chief Han Dong-hoon needs a separate consultation, after Han requested it on the occasion of Yoon’s dinner meeting with the PPP leadership this week.
Yoon will hold a dinner meeting with Han and other PPP leaders Tuesday to discuss the government’s medical reform plan. Separately from the group dinner, Han requested a one-on-one meeting with Yoon on the same day, according to media reports.
The dinner gathering was originally planned for late August, but it was postponed after Han openly called for holding off the planned hike in the medical school admissions quota for 2026 to help resolve the protracted doctors’ walkout in a departure from Yoon’s stance.
President Yoon Suk Yeol (R) shakes hands with ruling People Power Party chief Han Dong-hoon (3rd from L) at Seoul Air Base in Seongnam, just south of Seoul, on Sept. 22, 2024, as Yoon arrives in South Korea after a trip to the Czech Republic. (Yonhap)
“Tomorrow’s dinner meeting is designed to encourage the new PPP leadership. Yoon’s possible solo meeting with Han is an issue that needs a separate consultation,” an official at the presidential office told reporters.
The official said such a solo meeting will not necessarily be held Tuesday, adding that the presidential office will seek to have consultations on the issue.
Participants in Tuesday’s dinner gathering will also include PPP floor leader Choo Kyung-ho and other members of the PPP’s Supreme Council and presidential chief of staff Chung Jin-suk and other senior secretaries.
Han has been considered one of Yoon’s closest confidants during their time as prosecutors, but their relationship has soured due mostly to differences over how to handle first lady Kim Keon Hee’s acceptance of a luxury handbag and other sensitive issues.
“If it would be difficult this time, I think there is a need to have such a (solo) meeting at the earliest date,” Han told reporters.
Asked why he requested a separate meeting with Yoon, Han said, “There is an important issue that is difficult to talk about publicly. We are in a situation where the discussion of the matter is necessary.”
The PPP leader apparently sees the need to have candid discussions with Yoon over the medical school quota hike plan in a bid to swiftly launch a joint consultative body involving the government, rival parties and the medical community.
The presidential office appears to be uncomfortable with the fact that Han’s request for the solo meeting was revealed through media reports. If the president rejects the offer, it could once again highlight conflicts between Yoon and Han, as well as invite criticism that Yoon lacks commitment to communication.
PPP Rep. Park Jeong-ha, who aligns with Han, flatly rejected speculation that Han’s side intentionally leaked his request for the meeting to the media.
The government and the ruling party earlier proposed the medical community join a consultative body to discuss the government’s medical reform plan that centers on raising the medical school admissions quota to around 2,000 annually for the next five years or so.
The presidential office said the government “remains flexible” on the quota for 2026 and forward, and is open to discussing “scientifically grounded and reasonable proposals brought forward by the medical community.”
This photo, taken Sept. 23, 2024, shows ruling People Power Party (PPP) chief Han Dong-hoon (R) and PPP floor leader Choo Kyung-ho at the National Assembly in Seoul. (Yonhap)
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