President-elect Yoon Seok-yeol had a luncheon with his aides on the 16th near his office in Tongui-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul. The menu is kimchi stew, which costs 9,000 won per person. It was a surprise schedule, as the Blue House luncheon with President Moon Jae-in was postponed. In an interview with the Hankook Ilbo in February, he said, “If we move the office of the president to Gwanghwamun, we will have lunch around the government building in Seoul.”
President-elect Yoon went to work at the office in Tongui-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, and in time for lunch, he walked to a nearby restaurant with Ahn Cheol-soo, chairman of the presidential transition, Kwon Young-se, vice chairman of the transition committee, Won Hee-ryong, planning committee chairman of the transition committee, Jang Je-won, chief of the secretary-elect, and Seo Il-joon, head of the administrative office.
During the meal, President-elect Yoon served stew Ahn and Vice-Chairman Kwon, and following eating, took a walk around Gyeongbokgung Station and took pictures with citizens. President-elect Kim Eun-hye, spokesperson for the election, said, “President-elect Yoon said ‘Let’s go on foot’ on the spot.”
President-elect Yoon recently engages in ‘meal communication’ whenever he/she has an outside schedule. When I visited Namdaemun Market in Seoul on the 14th, I found a long-established store and ate tail gomtang with merchants. After meeting the victims of forest fires in Gangwon and Gyeongbuk on the 15th, I ate jjambbong at a Chinese restaurant in Uljin, Gyeongbuk. It was a restaurant that was praised for providing free meals to firefighters during a fire.
Kim Hyun-bin reporter hbkim@hankookilbo.com