SEOUL, Opposition leader Lee Jae-myung on Wednesday denied a news report that unofficial envoys were involved in setting up last week’s talks between him and President Yoon Suk Yeol.
Lee, chairman of the main opposition Democratic Party, made the remark a day after a local media report said two professors at Korea University and Kyonggi University had acted as “secret envoys” to coordinate Lee’s first-ever talks with Yoon since Yoon came into office.
“The only consultations made in regard to the talks were between the chief of staff and the presidential office,” Lee told reporters.
Shortly after Tuesday’s report, an official at the presidential office also stressed that the meeting was coordinated via “official” communication channels, and no special figures were involved behind-the-scenes.
Yoon first proposed the meeting with Lee last month after the ruling People Power Party’s humiliating defeat to Lee’s DP in the April 10 parliamentary elections.