Moon, Yoon to have first meeting on Monday

The first meeting between President Moon Jae-in and President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol, which was postponed once, will take place at the presidential office at 6 p.m. on Monday. The meeting will happen on 19th day after the March 9 presidential election, which is more belated than any meetings between former presidents and presidents-elect.

Presidential spokesperson Park Kyung-mi and Yoon’s spokesperson Kim Eun-hye give press briefings on Sunday and announced that “President Moon and President-elect Yoon will have a meeting and dinner at Sangchunjae, the reception house in Cheong Wa Dae.” The meeting will be joined by presidential chief of staff Yoo Young-min and Yoon’s chief of staff Chang Je-won. Originally, Moon and Yoon agreed to hold their first meeting without other attendants on March 16, but the meeting was cancelled only four hours prior as the two sides had failed to set a shared agenda.

The two sides have been in conflict over issues including appointment of members of the Board of Audit and Inspection’s inspection panel, and a reserve budget for relocation of the presidential office. Analysts say they apparently have reached an agreement in a surprise move because they have come to share the understanding that protracted conflict will only add to the burden on both Moon and Yoon.

Meanwhile, the Board of Audit and Inspection announced that it will exercise its right to approve the president’s nomination of panel members after the inauguration of the new administration to bring to an end to dispute over the issue, while tension has been rising on the national security front in the wake of Pyongyang’s firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile, which should have affected decision by both sides.


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