Kim Dong-yeon and Kim Kyung-soo meet in Germany

It was belatedly reported that Gyeonggi Province Governor Kim Dong-yeon and former South Gyeongsang Governor Kim Kyung-soo met in Berlin, Germany on Saturday (local time). The main opposition Democratic Party is paying attention to the meeting between the non-Lee Jae-myung faction presidential candidates, which took place ahead of the first trial sentencing of Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, on charges of violating the Public Official Election Act and false testimony this month.

Gyeonggi Province announced on Wednesday, “After Governor Kim finished his visit to the Netherlands on Friday, he went to Berlin, Germany and held a policy discussion meeting there,” and “After the discussion, he had an unplanned, natural meeting with former Governor Kim, who was staying there.” They are known to have met at the 15th-anniversary memorial service for former President Roh Moo-hyun held in Bongha Village, Gimhae, South Gyeongsang Province, in May of this year. They had talked and met several times separately until recently.

Governor Kim is eval‎uated to have started to build up the non-Lee faction power by recruiting former lawmakers who lost in this year’s general elections, such as Koh Young-in and Jeon Hae-cheol, as Gyeonggi Province’s economic vice-governor and provincial administration advisory committee chairman. Former Governor Kim, considered a close associate of Moon Jae-in, is currently staying in Germany after studying abroad in the U.K. for about a year and is expected to return soon. The two, along with former Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum, are considered to be the rivals of Lee Jae-myung.


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