Moon, Yoon to hold first meeting Monday

SEOUL– President Moon Jae-in and President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol will hold their first meeting at Cheong Wa Dae this week, their aides said Sunday.

The two are set to hold a dinner meeting at the Sangchunje guest house on Monday, 19 days after Yoon was elected Moon’s successor, Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson Park Kyung-mee and Yoon’s spokesperson Kim Eun-hye said in separate press briefings.

Moon and Yoon will be accompanied by Presidential Chief of Staff Yoo Young-min and Yoon’s top aide, Rep. Chang Je-won.

The decision on their meeting was finalized after Moon offered to meet Yoon at the “earliest possible” date, while Yoon expressed his hope to meet without any agenda and engage in “candid” dialogue, according to the briefings.

Their meeting comes amid controversies over some of Yoon’s plans, including a push for the relocation of the presidential office to the defense ministry compound in Seoul’s central district of Yongsan.

Moon and Yoon were supposed to have a meeting March 16. But it was canceled amid news reports of a stand-off over Yoon’s hurried drive for the relocation of the presidential office and nominations for some key government posts.

Their planned rendezvous comes 19 days after the presidential election, the farthest time past an election that a president and a president-elect in South Korea will have met.

In 2007, then President Roh Moo-hyun met then President-elect Lee Myung-bak nine days after Lee’s election. Also in 2012, then President Lee met then President-elect Park Geun-hye nine days after Park’s election.

Source: Yonhap News Agency

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