Pres. Yoon meets Cho Kuk for the first time in five years

President Yoon Suk Yeol met with Cho Kuk, leader of the Rebuilding Korea Party, on Wednesday. It is the first time in five years that the two leaders have met in an official event, having an uncomfortable relationship since Yoon’s investigation of Cho’s scandal during President Moon Jae-in’s term. The two shook hands briefly without speaking.

President Yoon delivered a speech on Buddha Day at the Jogyesa Temple in Jongno-gu, Seoul, and exchanged greetings with major political figures in attendance as he left the event. This was when he met and shook hands with party leader Cho. “It was not with any special intention that the president shakes hands with Cho,” said an official with the Presidential Office. “It was a natural part of the event meeting with key political figures sitting in the front row.”

This is the first time since July 2019 that President Yoon met with Cho in an official setting. President Yoon, who was appointed prosecutor general under the Moon Jae-in administration at the time, attended the appointment ceremony held at the Blue House and had a chat with then-Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs Cho. In August 2019, after Cho was nominated as Minister of Justice, he was involved in a scandal falsifying documents for his children’s college admissions during the National Assembly confirmation hearing. The prosecution, led by Yoon at the time, conducted an exhaustive investigation into various suspicions surrounding the Cho family.


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