◀ anchor ▶
President Moon Jae-in and President-elect Yoon Seok-yeol spent last night together for 171 minutes, the longest meeting between a previous president and a president-elect.
In particular, President Moon expressed his intention to cooperate with the relocation of the Yongsan office.
However, there is a temperature difference between the two interpretations of this statement.
Reporter Min-chan Kim reports.
◀ Report ▶
Although it was the latest meeting in history, the atmosphere softened as the president greeted the elected president in person and took a walk around the Blue House grounds.
“It seems like a symbolic place in many ways because there are no traditional hanok buildings like this in the Blue House. There is also a good yard…”
The banquet exceeded expectations and lasted 171 minutes.
A couple of glasses of red wine were served as an accompaniment, and the conversation continued with the fact that each dog had the same name as ‘Tori’.
[장제원/당선인 비서실장]
“They had a friendly conversation with each other in a very respectful way, to the extent that you can’t find any conflicts or things like this that people feel today…”
At the dinner, opinions were approached on the issue of relocating the office to Yongsan.
The elected president showed his will, “I want to do as much as the previous government did not do”, and the president responded, “I will cooperate closely with the budget plan.”
The two sides, who were running parallel to the relocation of the office, seem to have come a step closer, but the later interpretations show subtle differences once more.
The elected side gave a positive evaluation, saying, “Practically, I understood it as a statement that we would cooperate by sharing the timing and previous contents.”
[김은혜/당선인 대변인]
“I understood that (President Moon) also expressed his intention to cooperate. Depending on the outcome of the working-level consultation, I have an opportunity to tell you regarding it later…”
On the other hand, the Blue House focused on ‘taking a close look’.
As it is a matter directly related to national security, it is interpreted to mean that the previous plan and budget need to be carefully considered in the future.
Even at today’s cabinet meeting, there was no discussion regarding the reserve required for the relocation of the Oval Office.
The two sides plan to continue discussions regarding the relocation of the office through working-level negotiations.
However, it is highly likely that the relocation of the office, which was scheduled for the inauguration ceremony, will be delayed as there is expected to be a large gap between the Blue House and the elected officials on the size of the previous budget and the security gap.
This is Kim Min-chan from MBC News.
Video coverage Yang Dong-am Kim Shin-young / Video editing Choi Seung-ho
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