This article was originally posted on Jayu Press and translated by OKN Correspondent.
President-elect Yoon Seok-youl and President Moon Jae-in have yet to meet. The meeting between the two is meaningful. This would symbolize national unity, so different than the extreme showdown between the ruling and opposition parties during the presidential election. It also means promising the public that the two camps with different ideologies will make a smooth transition. It is their duty and courtesy to the people for the two to meet now that the presidential election is over without any conditions or purpose.
However, their luncheon on March 16 was canceled only four hours before the scheduled time. It’s been 15 days since the presidential election, but they still don’t even have a date set to meet. This is unprecedented. It took nine days for President Roh Moo-hyun to meet with his successor Lee Myung-bak because Roh’s camp opposed the dismantling of the Unification Ministry. President Moon is even worse. It is said that the Moon camp is making a lot of demands, including the right to appoint one member to the audit committee.
Due to these circumstances, all manners of speculations and rumors are circulating, such as the luncheon meeting being canceled was due to insistent demands like granting pardons to those close to President Moon and guaranteeing positions for Blue House employees. It’s not important whether these rumors are true or not—the problem is that there is such commotion over the meeting between the president-elect and the incumbent president.
Why are there conditions? The meeting between the two should not be a meeting for political trades. What greed and regret does the current government have? Through five years of experience, they know what power feels like. No matter how hard they try to get their demands, the incoming administration will be able to nullify them according to the needs and circumstances of state affairs and they know it.
President Moon should act differently than former President Roh. He should not make any demands from the next president. He should let go of the weight and authority of the position of president. It would be most dignified if he were to just give advice based on his own experience and promise cooperation to the new president.
The fierce battle between the two sides during the presidential election is a painful memory to the people. They want to see the president-elect and the incumbent president happily cooperate. That is the first step toward unity. I sincerely recommend that both sides meet as soon as possible without any conditions and objectives.
To read the original article in Korean, please click here.
