Party Leader Meeting

[Anchor Lead]

President Moon Jae-in on Wednesday will meet with the leaders of the four political parties at his office. Liberty Korea Party Chairman Hong Jun-pyo has refused to attend the meeting, which he says is just for show.

[Pkg]

President Moon Jae-in has invited the leaders of the four major political parties to his office. The heads of the Democratic, People's, Bareun and Justice parties will meet with the president on Wednesday evening. At the meeting, President Moon will brief the guests on how his administration responds to North Korea's continuous provocations and seek their cooperation in dealing with Pyongyang. Sources say the president will also outline the results of his summit talks with the U.S. and Japanese leaders last week.

[Soundbite] Jun Byung-hun(Senior Presidential Secretary for Political Affairs) : "The meeting will focus on national security and bi-partisan cooperation in solving the grave national security situation."

President Moon will thank the leaders of the political parties for passing the bill on the nomination of Supreme Court chief justice Kim Myung-soo and further more will ask for their cooperation in processing budget-related and other legislative bills. The presidential office said that Liberty Korea Party Chairman Hong Jun-pyo has turned down the invitation, Hong said the meeting was just for show just ahead of the Chuseok holiday.

[Soundbite] Hong Jun-pyo(Chairman, Liberty Korea Party) : "I want the president to have one-on-one meetings if he wants to say something to the opposition, be it over breakfast or dinner."

The head of the main opposition party stressed that the national security crisis cannot be solved unless he and the president meet one-on-one, because he has contrasting views on national security issues.