This article was originally posted on Jayu Press and translated by OKN Correspondent.
President Moon Jae-in and President-elect Yoon Seok-youl held a dinner meeting on March 28. It’s been 19 days since the presidential election.
At 5:59 p.m., President Moon and President-elect Yoon met for a total of 2 hours and 51 minutes until 8:50 p.m. at the Blue House.
This is the longest meeting between an incumbent president and president-elect in the history of South Korea. Previously, on December 28, 2007, the longest meeting was between then-President Roh Moo-hyun and President-elect Lee Myung-bak, which lasted for 2 hours and 10 minutes.
The current presidential chief of staff Yoo Young-min and the president-elect’s chief of staff Jang Je-won were also in attendance at the dinner meeting that is said to have served Korean premium beef ribs and red wine.
Various topics were reportedly discussed candidly at the meeting.
It is possible that they discussed creating a supplementary budget worth 50 trillion won that includes COVID-19 prevention measures and specific measures to overcome the economic downturn.
It’s expected that President-elect Yoon’s camp may have asked for cooperation from both the Blue House and the current administration as Yoon will be in a position to urgently deal with the issue of COVID-19 bailouts.
They also probably discussed the recent North Korean launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) which may have raised the security crisis on the Korean Peninsula.
Regarding the issue of Yoon’s plans for relocating the presidential office to Yongsan into the Defense Ministry compound, President-elect Yoon reportedly asked President Moon for his cooperation in aspects such as the budget.
After the dinner meeting, Yoon’s chief of staff Jang Je-won said at a briefing at the transition team’s office, “The relocation of the presidential office to Yongsan was naturally brought up,” adding, “That President Moon believes that the relocation of the presidential office is up to the next government, and the current government will closely examine the budget regarding the move.”
When asked if they had discussed if they were planning to submit the reserve funds for the relocation to the Cabinet, Jang answered, “They did not discuss the procedures in detail, I just understood that they will both share the practicality and details of the relocation, and that the president will cooperate.”
When asked if it was possible that the relocation of the office would happen before the inauguration, Jang said, “That the two did not discuss whether it was possible or not,” adding, “In any case, President Moon said that he would cooperate and take a close look at the budget for the relocation plan.”
According to the president-elect’s camp, there was no discussion on sensitive topics, such as the possible special pardon for former President Lee Myung-bak and the reorganization of the government.
Before the meeting, President-elect Yoon said, “We have not specifically set an agenda,” but added, “We will probably discuss public welfare and security issues.”
Kim Eun-hye, the spokesperson for the president-elect, also said during the briefing at the transition team’s office, “The issue of the loss due to the COVID-19 bailout should be dealt with most urgently above all else.” She also added, “The supplementary 50 trillion won budget was a promise made to the public and I believe the current government agrees and will make provisions.”
Initially, the meeting between President Moon and President-elect Yoon was scheduled on March 16 but was canceled four hours prior to the meeting.
Reasons for the breakdown of the initial meeting were complex, such as President Moon’s exercise of personnel issues like appointing an audit committee member and the pardon request for former President Lee Myung-bak.
However, the Board of Audit and Inspection said in its transition report on March 25, “Considering the high degree of political neutrality that auditors should maintain, in principle, it is questionable whether it is appropriate to exercise the right to make appointments when there may be controversy or doubt related to political neutrality at this point in time,” asking President Moon to “refrain” from exercising his right.
As the issue of exercising personnel appointments came to an end, the meeting between the two took place 19 days since the election and 12 days after the initial meeting was canceled.
Meanwhile, President-elect Yoon has been dropping into the transition team’s briefing room in Tongui-dong with no prior notice. The previous briefing room was in the Korea Banking Institute in Samcheong-dong, about 30 minutes away on foot from the current Tongui-dong location. After understanding the situation, Yoon gave orders to turn the Financial Supervisory Service’s office in Jongno-gu, where the transition team is located, to set up a press room serving as a briefing room.
To read the original article in Korean, please click here.
