Yoon en route to US military base Camp Humphreys

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol, then the presidential candidate of the main opposition People Power Party, looks at the North Korean side of the inter-Korean border through binoculars during a visit to an observation post of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division inside the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas at the central section of the inter-Korean border in Cheorwon, Gangwon Province, Dec. 20, 2021. Yonhap

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol was en route to the U.S. military base Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, Thursday, his spokesperson said, as tensions have been running high over North Korea's nuclear weapons and missile programs.

The base, located 70 kilometers south of Seoul, serves as the headquarters of the 28,500-strong U.S. Forces Korea and the U.S.-led U.N. Command.

Yoon's visit comes as North Korea has ratcheted up tensions by launching an intercontinental ballistic missile last month, breaking its self-imposed moratorium on ICBM and nuclear weapons tests. Concerns have also risen that Pyongyang could conduct a nuclear test.

The president-elect was flying to the base by helicopter, according to his spokesperson Bae Hyun-jin.

He is expected to meet with Gen. Paul LaCamera, commander of USFK and the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command, as well as Deputy CFC Commander Gen. Kim Seung-kyum, to discuss the allies' joint defense posture.

The CFC is in the process of relocating to Camp Humphreys from Yongsan in Seoul, the same area that Yoon is pushing to move the presidential office to.

Past presidents-elect, including Park Geun-hye, Lee Myung-bak and Roh Moo-hyun, visited the CFC in Yongsan but not the base in Pyeongtaek. (Yonhap)