Dinner at Sangchunjae at 6 PM on the 28th
[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] The meeting between President Moon Jae-in and President-elect Yoon Seok-yeol has been scheduled for the 28th.
Park Kyung-mi, the Blue House spokesperson, stated in a briefing on the 27th, "President Moon and President-elect Yoon will meet for dinner at Sangchunjae in the Blue House at 6 p.m. on the 28th."
The Blue House conveyed President Moon's proposal to President-elect Yoon's side, saying, "We hope to meet President-elect Yoon as soon as possible," and President-elect Yoon responded, "It is most important to ease the public's concerns. Let's meet without an agenda and have an open and frank conversation," leading to the arrangement of the meeting.
Accordingly, the meeting between the president and the president-elect will take place 19 days after the presidential election. This is the longest interval in history, as previous presidents and president-elects have met within 10 days.
However, due to tensions between the Blue House and the transition team over issues such as the pardon of former President Lee Myung-bak, personnel appointments including the Governor and Audit Committee members of the Bank of Korea, and the relocation of the presidential office, the meeting originally scheduled for the 16th was postponed once, causing a delay.
The Blue House and the transition team even engaged in a 'revelation war' over the selection process of the Bank of Korea Governor candidate.
Then, as the Board of Audit and Inspection sided with President-elect Yoon regarding the appointment of Audit Committee members, resolving the personnel issue to some extent, and with the heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula due to North Korea's intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launch and the public hardships caused by the spread of the COVID-19 Omicron variant, both sides seemed to have judged that the meeting could no longer be delayed.
President Moon and President-elect Yoon are expected to meet for dinner at Sangchunjae on the evening of the 28th and have an open and frank discussion.
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