South Korea: Leftist President, Conservative Successor Fail to Meet amid 'Bitterness' Rumors

Conservative South Korean President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol and outgoing South Korean President Moon Jae-in, a leftist, have failed to meet per tradition in recent days, reportedly due to an apparent animosity between the two sides as evidenced in public barbs against one another from respective representatives, Yonhap News Agency reported Thursday.

Yoon won South Korea’s presidential election on March 9. He successfully campaigned for the South Korean presidency as the nominee of South Korea’s right-wing, opposition People Power Party (PPP). Current South Korean President Moon Jae-in will complete a single, five-year term in office on May 9. Moon was elected to the office of South Korea’s presidency in May 2017 as the candidate of South Korea’s left-wing Democratic Party of Korea (DPK). Yoon previously served as Prosecutor General of South Korea from July 2019 to March 2021 under President Moon. This past connection between the two has seemingly failed to bond Yoon and Moon since then, however, as the pair have repeatedly failed to meet each other since March 9 as per custom.

A planned meeting between Yoon and Moon scheduled for March 16 was called off at the last minute, allegedly because
“working-level, pre-meeting discussions” had not been completed in time, Yonhap reported. Representatives for the two sides said at the time the canceled conference — which would have served as the first in-person visit between Yoon and Moon since the March 9 presidential election — would be “rescheduled” for an undisclosed date. Attempts to arrange the postponed summit between Yoon and Moon have failed over the past week, however.

Moon commented on March 24 about his and Yoon’s inability to organize a face-to-face meeting this month. Yonhap quoted Moon as saying the following through his senior secretary for public communication, Park Soo-hyun:

I am an outgoing president and President-elect Yoon is an incoming president. What negotiations are needed in order for the two of us to exchange greetings and words of advice? It’s not like we’re negotiating.

I’ve never heard that conditions are necessary for a president-elect to pay a visit to the president. I hope the president-elect will make a decision on his own without listening to other people.

Yoon’s spokeswoman, Kim Eun-hye, issued the following statement on March 24 in response to Moon’s remarks:

It is extremely regrettable that [Moon] spoke as if there is a problem with President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol’s judgment and as if his advisers are blurring his judgment.

Moreover, given that the government transition is not going smoothly, and at a time when it is vital to respond to COVID-19 [Chinese coronavirus] and the economic crisis, I cannot easily agree with the characterization of the two people’s meeting as simply an occasion to exchange greetings.

A specific disagreement between Yoon and Moon on the issue of presidential appointments seems to have contributed to the friction exhibited between the two sides since March 9. Moon retains the right to make last-minute personnel appointments until his last day in office as South Korea’s president on May 9.

“Moon’s office on Wednesday [March 23] announced the nomination of Rhee Chang-yong, director of the Asia and Pacific department at the International Monetary Fund, as the next chief of the Bank of Korea, saying the selection was discussed with Yoon’s side,” Yonhap detailed.

“But Yoon’s office refuted the claim, saying there were no prior consultations or recommendations,” according to the Seoul-based news agency.

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