Moon and Yoon to finally meet on Monday

President Moon Jae-in and President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol will hold their first meeting at the Blue House Monday evening, 19 days after the election.

President Moon Jae-in, left, and President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol will hold their first dinner meeting at the Blue House in Seoul Monday. [JOONGANG PHOTO]

President Moon Jae-in and President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol will hold their first meeting at the Blue House Monday evening, 19 days after the election.

This is the longest time that has passed for a president and his incoming successor to meet.

Moon and Yoon are scheduled to have a dinner meeting at the Sangchunje guest house at 6 p.m., said Blue House spokesperson Park Kyung-mee Sunday.

They will be accompanied by Moon's chief of staff, Yoo Young-min, and main opposition People Power Party (PPP) Rep. Chang Je-won, Yoon's chief of staff.

Yoon's spokesperson Kim Eun-hye also simultaneously announced the meeting in a separate press briefing.

Moon and Yoon's initial one-on-one luncheon meeting scheduled for March 16 was canceled last-minute. The two sides said that preparatory discussions had not been completed, but it was unprecedented for a meeting between the president and his incoming successor to be canceled so abruptly.

The new meeting date was rescheduled after Moon again offered to hold talks with the president-elect "at an early date," said spokesperson Park.

Yoon was quoted by Park as responding, "It is of the utmost importance to alleviate the people's concerns," calling to meet "without an agenda to have candid talks."

Lee Cheol-hee, senior presidential secretary for political affairs, and Rep. Chang have met numerous times since Friday afternoon to coordinate the meeting and reached an agreement Saturday evening.

A key Blue House official told reporters Sunday, "The meeting is a venue for candid conversation without a set agenda," adding this was something "agreed upon" by both sides.

The delay in the first meeting comes amid an apparent power struggle between the outgoing and incoming presidents.

Working-level consultations between the two sides' aides to rearrange the meeting weren't making progress.

Yoon's spokesperson Kim told reporters Sunday in the meeting with Moon, "President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol determined it was important to personally alleviate the public's concerns in a serious situation."

She said Yoon, after the Blue House's latest offer for talks, ordered for the meeting to proceed with speed, taking into consideration difficulties faced from the Covid-19 pandemic, the economic impact of the Ukraine crisis and security matters.

The two sides had locked horns over issues such as personnel appointments and a special pardon for former conservative President Lee Myung-bak. Lee has been serving a 17-year sentence for embezzlement and bribery since 2018.

Yoon's aides especially expressed outrage when Moon named a new Bank of Korea governor last Wednesday, with the two sides colliding over when the Blue House had consulted in advance with the president-elect's team on the matter.

However, one of the key issues regarding the appointment of two vacant posts out of seven commissioners of the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) was somewhat resolved after the BAI sided with Yoon on the matter. The Moon government intended on appointing one commissioner and letting the incoming government name the other. However on Friday, a BAI report stated that it would not be recommended to appoint commissioners under the current government, taking into consideration the importance of political neutrality of the state audit agency.

Yoon's plan to relocate the presidential office to the Defense Ministry compound in Yongsan District in central Seoul, which would require Cabinet approval for a budget, is another point of contention. Moon expressed concern over a "security vacuum" which could result from speeding along a simultaneous move of the presidential office, Defense Ministry and Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Yoon has pushed for an additional supplementary budget of 50 trillion won ($40.7 billion) for Covid-19 recovery. The Moon government has been hesitant to approve of additional budget under its remaining term.

The meeting could also be an opportunity for Moon and Yoon to coordinate on a unified North Korea message after Pyongyang's intercontinental ballistic missile launch last week.

Since the time allotted for their dinner meeting is longer than for a luncheon, there could also be an opportunity for Moon and Yoon to have private talks without their aides.

Moon and Yoon last met 21 months ago at the Blue House in June 2020, when Yoon was still his prosecutor general.

The previous record longest time it took for a president to meet the president-elect after an election was 18 days for President Roh Tae-woo and his successor Kim Young-sam in 1992.

Kim Young-sam met with President-elect Kim Dae-jung just two days after the election in 1997, while President Kim Dae-jung met his successor Roh Moo-hyun four days after the election in 2002.

Roh Moo-hyun met his conservative incoming successor Lee Myung-bak nine days after Lee was elected in 2007. Likewise, in 2012, President Lee met with his successor, Park Geun-hye, nine days after she was elected.

BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]