Democratic Party University Committee Chair: "Really Embarrassing That Wine from Jeon Du-hwan's Son Was Served at the Korea-US Summit Dinner"

Wine 'VASO' from Jeon Du-hwan's son's company served at Biden's official invitation dinner
Selected as the dinner wine for the Seoul G20 Summit during MB administration
Park Young-hoon, Democratic Party Student Committee Chair, "It's shameful to have drunk wine made by a dictator's son"

President Yoon Suk-yeol and U.S. President Joe Biden are toasting at a welcome dinner held on the afternoon of the 21st at the National Museum of Korea in Yongsan, Seoul. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyun-joo] It has been revealed that the wine used at the welcome dinner for President Yoon Suk-yeol and U.S. President Joe Biden was a product of a company operated by Jae-man Jeon, the third son of former President Jeon Du-hwan. In response, Park Young-hoon, Chairperson of the Democratic Party of Korea’s National University Students Committee, directly criticized, saying, "The wine served at the dinner was made by the son of Jeon Du-hwan, to whom President Biden once wrote a letter asking him to stop suppressing former Presidents Kim Dae-jung and Kim Young-sam. This is truly shameful."

On the 22nd, Chairperson Park wrote on his Facebook, "At yesterday’s Korea-U.S. summit dinner table, the dinner wine served was 'VASO.' Dana Estate, which produces VASO, is jointly operated by Jae-man Jeon, son of former President Jeon Du-hwan, and his father-in-law Lee Hee-sang, former chairman of Dongawon," he began.

Chairperson Park mentioned that President Biden had previously sent a letter to Jeon expressing concern over the suppression of opposition politicians such as former President Kim Dae-jung. He explained, "When Biden was a U.S. Senator 36 years ago in 1986, he sent a letter to President Jeon Du-hwan expressing concern that many political prisoners in Korea were detained without committing any crimes, and requested that the suppression stop, stating that the oppression, which intensified against opposition leaders like Kim Dae-jung and Kim Young-sam, seriously called into question the sincerity of your government’s promise of democratization."

Park continued, "From President Biden’s perspective, despite having sent a warning letter to the dictator Jeon for the sake of democracy in the Republic of Korea, time has passed and at the Korea-U.S. summit, they ended up drinking wine made by the dictator’s son. This is truly shameful," he criticized. He also pointed out, "If this was selected without knowing the facts, it is a collapse of the presidential office’s protocol system; if it was selected knowing the facts, it is a diplomatic faux pas."

Earlier, the presidential office had stated in a press release that the reason for selecting the wine 'VASO' was because "VASO was the dinner wine at the 2010 Seoul G20 (Group of Twenty) summit, symbolizing the wish for a successful official dinner."

Chairperson Park also criticized this explanation from the presidential office, saying, "No diplomatic official visiting Korea would have wanted wine made by the son of the dictator Jeon Du-hwan, who suppressed democracy, at a dinner meant to wish for cooperation."