Moon, Yoon clash intensifies over relocation plans

Mar 23, 2022, 09:30 am

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President Moon Jae-in and the then prosecutor general Yoon Suk-yeol head to a meeting after Yoon was awarded a letter of appointment on July 25, 2019./ Source: Yonhap

AsiaToday reporter Lee Wook-jae

President Moon Jae-in said on Tuesday that there should be no vacuum in state affairs, and there should be not even the slightest insecure factor in security.

His remarks came a day after Cheong Wa Dae put brakes on President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol’s plan to relocate the presidential office, based on the results of a meeting of the National Security Council, citing security vacuum. It seems that the clash between the incumbent and incoming administrations is escalating.

Moon said during a Cabinet meeting that his last mission is to “fulfill duties as head of state, chief of the administration, and commander-in-chief of the military that the Constitution has granted to the president.” Saying that the country faces a serious situation inside and outside, Moon said that tensions are rising on the Korean peninsula amid the international security environment in which a new Cold War structure is being formed. “It is time for our military to maintain its highest level of security readiness.” The president said the incumbent and incoming administrations must cooperate and stably manage security, economy and safety tasks during the change of government.

Moon’s remarks can be seen as fundamental ones, but he seems to have expressed a negative view on relocating the presidential office before the next administration takes office, citing security concerns.

At the beginning, Yoon’s side hoped to propose a plan to spend 49.6 billion won ($40 million) as a reserve fund to relocate the presidential office at a Cabinet meeting. However, such plan was not proposed eventually, and only 2.7 billion won in operating expenses of the presidential transition committee was decided during the meeting.

As Moon expressed his firm will saying there cannot be even the slightest insecure factor in security, it seems virtually impossible to relocate the presidential office within Moon’s term. In order to relocate the office, cooperation with Cheong Wa Dae is required.

Yoon’s side also made it clear that Yoon will continue to work at Tongui-dong, where the transition committee is located. It means that he will not move into Cheong Wa Dae when taking office and move the office to Yongsan. Unless there is a negotiation meeting between Moon and Yoon, the positions of both sides are expected to run parallel.

However, working-level discussions for the meeting are likely to continue under the table, since both sides would be under fire if the conflict between the old and the new powers continue during the transition period. “We are ready to listen,” said Moon’s senior aide for public relations Park Soo-hyun. “We are always open to the possibility of working-level consultations,” said Yoon’s spokesperson Kim Eun-hye.

#Moon Jae-in #Yoon Suk-yeol #relocation