Moon vows to cooperate on presidential office relocation
President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol talks with President Moon Jae-in during their meeting at Cheong Wa Dae, Monday. Yonhap
Moon, Yoon talked freely in cozy atmosphere; neither side mentioned pardon for jailed ex-president Lee Myung-bak
By Nam Hyun-woo
President Moon Jae-in said he will “cooperate” with President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol's plan to relocate the presidential office, Monday, during their first meeting that came 19 days after the presidential election on March 9.
“President Moon said the decision over the location of the presidential office is fully up to the incoming government,” Yoon's Chief of Staff Rep. Chang Je-won said during a press briefing held after the meeting. “As an outgoing president, he said he will thoroughly look into the budget related to the relocation plan and cooperate with the president-elect.”
His remarks came days after the two sides had clashed over Yoon's bid to set up a new presidential office at the defense ministry compound in Seoul's Yongsan District, and begin his presidency there. Moon had earlier dismissed Yoon's proposal to finance his presidential office relocation plan from the state reserve fund.
Rep. Chang, who attended the meeting, said the two sides did not mention any details about other issues that they had been butting heads over, such as whether the Moon government will table Yoon's proposal for a Cabinet meeting and allow the president-elect to tap into the state reserve fund. However, he added, “I understood that the president showed his intention to cooperate with Yoon's plan after the two sides share a timeframe andd other details.”
The two began their dinner meeting at Cheong Wa Dae at 6 p.m. on Monday, and spent nearly three hours together, marking the longest meeting between outgoing and incoming presidents in Korea's history.
Moon waited in front of an office building of the Cheong Wa Dae compound to greet the president-elect, and the two walked through a garden in the presidential compound before they went into the Sang Choon Jae reception house in the compound.
Chang also said the two sides agreed on holding working-level meetings over setting up a supplementary budget to compensate those suffering financial losses due to the government's COVID-19 restrictions.
During his campaign, Yoon urged the government to set up a supplementary budget of 50 trillion won ($40.83 billion) for compensating small business owners and the self-employed who have suffered financial losses due to the government's COVID-19 restrictions.
President Moon Jae-in ushers President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol into Sang Choon Jae reception house at Cheong Wa Dae, Monday. Yonhap
North Korea's missile threats were also the subject of the leaders' talk.
“The two agreed to spare no efforts in consulting each other over security issues, to prevent any national security glitches during the power transition,” Chang said.
On March 24, the Kim Jong-un regime test-fired what it claimed to be a Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile, ending its self-imposed moratorium on nuclear and ICBM tests. As the North crossed the so-called “red line,” there have been anticipations that the two South Korean sides may find common ground in handling North Korea's threats.
Despite initial anticipations, Chang said Yoon and Moon did not speak about granting a presidential special pardon for former President Lee Myung-bak.
It was the first meeting between the two in 21 months. The last time was in June 2020 at an anti-corruption meeting held in Cheong Wa Dae, while Yoon was serving as prosecutor-general.
The Monday meeting came after they postponed a scheduled meeting on March 16. Since then, Yoon and Moon have clashed over almost every issue, including the relocation of presidential office and the outgoing president's intention to fill key posts at state firms.
However, the talks for their meeting picked up momentum over the past weekend, after Cheong Wa Dae delivered Moon's intention to meet with Yoon as soon as possible, and Yoon responded positively by saying the two sides should meet without a “pre-determined agenda.”
Chang said Yoon and Moon exchanged “candid talks over various issues in an amicable atmosphere.”
“There were no detailed talks about naming new heads of state firms and government arms,” Chang said. “The president and the president-elect both told senior presidential secretary for political affairs Lee Cheol-hee and me to discuss what to do with empty positions.”
Pundits said they apparently felt pressure over their protracted confrontation overshadowing other important state affairs, which has not been helpful for either side.