President Park Geun-hye will meet with the leaders of the three major political parties at Cheong Wa Dae on Monday to discuss measures on North Korea’s latest nuclear threat and other pending state issues.

Party sources said Sunday that Cheong Wa Dae delivered the proposal through Kim Jae-won, the president’s senior secretary for political affairs.

All three, including The Minjoo Party of Korea’s Rep. Choo Mi-ae, Saenuri Party’s Rep. Lee Jung-hyun and People’s Party’s Rep. Park Jie-won agreed to the meeting.

From Cheong Wa Dae, chief of staff Lee Won-jong and Kim Jae-won will also participate.

Park Jie-won, the third-largest party’s floor leader and interim leader, was initially scheduled to accompany National Assembly Speaker Chung Sye-kyun on his US trip Monday, but decided to delay the trip to attend the presidential meeting.

The meeting comes in the midst of heightened tension in the region following North Korea’s strongest-yet and fifth nuclear test last Friday. It also tails suggestions by the opposition leaders to meet with the president to discuss their differences on state affairs and economy.

On May 13, the president and the three parties had agreed to meet at least once a quarter.

This will be the first gathering since the leaderships of the two biggest parties were elected.

The last meeting between President Park and both the rival party leaders was on Oct. 22 last year.

It has also been considered customary for the president to confer with party leaders upon returning from overseas trips, in a precedent set by past administrations.

President Park returned from a trip that took her to Russia, China and Laos to attend the G20 and Association of Southeast Asian Nations summits.  

(khnews@heraldcorp.com)