PPP floor leader to meet former President Lee Myung-bak on Monday

People Power Party floor leader Jeong Jeom-sik will visit former President Lee Myung-bak on Monday.

Jeong made the announcement Friday at a press briefing following the closing of the 2026 PPP lawmakers' workshop at Sono Calm Goyang in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province. "I will visit (the former president) on the 31st. Personal schedules have been coordinated," he said.

Political observers say the planned visit, coming on the heels of former President Park Geun-hye's attendance at the PPP workshop on Thursday, signals the start of a push toward conservative consolidation.

Jeong noted that Park attended the workshop Thursday for the first time in 14 years, urging the party to "stop dividing and pool its strength to regain public trust" while also stressing the importance of national security and improving livelihoods. "As the leading conservative opposition party of the Republic of Korea, we will overcome the livelihood and security crisis brought about by the Lee Jae Myung administration, which is destroying and dismantling the systems of this country," he said.

Asked about conservative consolidation, Jeong said the party remains open to working with anyone who shares its core values. "I believe the possibility of solidarity with all those who agree on the constitutional principle of liberal democracy and conservative values is always open," he said. "The question of a grand conservative consolidation will be decided in the direction our party members and the people want."

The remarks were seen as lending weight to a consolidation message PPP leader Jang Dong-hyeok put forward at a press briefing Wednesday marking the first anniversary of his inauguration.

Jeong pushed back against the Democratic Party of Korea's criticism of Park's visit as "regressive," quipping that "envy means you lose."

"It seems they were envious seeing former President Park come and emphasize unity and teamwork, given that they have yet to overcome the fallout from their party convention and internal divisions continue," he said. "If they have time to criticize a former president for attending a lawmakers' workshop, would it not be better to invite a former Democratic president to their own workshop?"

On the Democratic Party's push to transfer authority over reconstruction and redevelopment projects involving fewer than 500 units to district mayors, Jeong said the PPP has consistently called for expanding housing supply in the greater Seoul area. "The Democratic Party's fixation on public-led development has led to a housing supply shortage and a mismatch between supply and demand," he said.

He added that the party would set its policy direction based on the principle of extending the same incentives to private development as to public development in order to boost housing supply.