Pres. Moon to meet with President-elect Yoon next week

President Moon Jae-in spoke with President-elect Yoon Seok-youl on Thursday on the phone and said that he will support the transition process so that the new administration can smoothly take over the government. “Teach me a lot,” Yoon has reportedly asked Moon and expressed hope to meet as early as possible.

According to Cheong Wa Dae spokeswoman Park Kyung-mi, in a telephone conversation held for five minutes from 9:10 a.m., President Moon congratulated Yoon, saying, “Despite the differences in political stance and policies, there is a continuity in government and lots to handle in the change-over of presidential power,” and said that they would meet soon.

Chief of Staff Yoo Young-min and Senior Presidential Secretary for Political Affairs Lee Chul-hee met with President-elect Yoon at the main opposition People Power Party headquarters, delivered congratulatory flowers at the behest of President Moon, and adjusted the schedule for a meeting, which is expected to take place by next week at the earliest. The direct meeting of the two will take place in one year and nine months since the Anti-Corruption Policy Committee held at Cheong Wa Dae in June 2020.

It is reported that President-elect Yoon will bring up the subject of former President Lee Myung-bak’s pardon, seemingly in an attempt to share the political burden by taking on the appearance that the incumbent president decides to grant a clemency request upon the suggestion by the president-elect. Yoon commented on the exclusion of former President Lee from the list of presidential pardons in December last year, saying that such matter needs to be examined from the perspective of promoting unity among people with different political views. Yoon’s campaign office said it is “reviewing the matter from the standpoint of healing the political divide.”


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