President Yoon Suk Yeol listens to Daegu Mayor Hong Joon-pyo, left, during the national convention of the Council for the Better Tomorrow Movement in Daegu in this Nov. 7, 2023 file photo provided by the presidential office. Yonhap

President Yoon Suk Yeol met with Daegu Mayor Hong Joon-pyo this week to discuss post-election matters, including the future running of government affairs and personnel appointments, sources said Thursday.

The two met over dinner Tuesday, six days after the ruling People Power Party was routed in the general elections, winning only 108 seats in the 300-member National Assembly.

Yoon has vowed to communicate more with the public in the wake of the election defeat, which was seen as a midterm referendum on his performance two years into his single, five-year term.

The meeting with Hong was not set up specifically to offer him a position in the government, sources said, though he has been reported to be among the people under consideration for the next prime minister.

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, presidential chief of staff Lee Kwan-sup and most senior presidential secretaries have offered to resign to take responsibility for the election defeat.

Hong reportedly advised the president to reorganize his Cabinet and his staff at an early date, stressing that the next presidential chief of staff should be politically savvy and loyal, while the prime minister should be free of political ambitions and able to communicate well with the opposition party.

For the former, he recommended PPP Rep. Chang Je-won, while for the latter, he recommended Kim Han-gil, chief of the Presidential Committee of National Cohesion, according to the sources.

Hong is a former prosecutor, as well as a former five-term lawmaker and presidential candidate of what is now the PPP.

He reportedly dismissed the speculation surrounding his own nomination as prime minister, telling those close to him: "Now is not my time. I didn't come to Daegu to be prime minister." (Yonhap)