It didn’t take long for the Moon administration to begin to walk back their supposed cooperation with incoming President-Elect Yoon to move the presidential office to the Defense Ministry building:

Whether President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol will be able to relocate the presidential office in time for his May 10 inauguration remains a question even though President Moon Jae-in has promised to look into the matter and render cooperation.

Moon’s remark, made during a dinner meeting with Yoon on Monday, was seen as a step forward for Yoon, because Moon’s office had effectively expressed opposition earlier, saying the envisioned relocation could leave a security vacuum, as it also involves moving the defense ministry in a short period of time.

Moon’s cooperation is key, because the Cabinet should approve a reserve government fund for the plan.

Despite the positive words from Moon, the prospect of finishing the relocation by May 10 as planned is uncertain, as Moon’s offer of cooperation is considered conditional on a “careful” review of the relocation plan. (……)

After initial reports of Moon’s willingness to cooperate on the relocation plan, Cheong Wa Dae insiders cautioned against distorting the president’s latest remarks, saying the emphasis was on a “careful” review of the plan.

Some even claimed there was no change in Moon’s stance, as he had left open the possibility of rejecting the budget proposal for the relocation if it failed to resolve his concerns about leaving a security vacuum.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but it is going to be a surprise if this move happens on the timeframe that the incoming Yoon administration is pushing for.

It looks like Kim Jong-un may be trying to welcome incoming ROK President Yoon Suk-yeol with a nuclear test:

South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported Sunday that North Korea, according to government sources, was working on developing a pathway to an underground tunnel at the test site that was supposedly demolished by North Korea during the inter-Korea peace talks in 2018.

Commercial satellite images previously indicated that North Korea was repairingand building at the site, according to analysts from the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies.

“One possibility is that North Korea plans to bring the test site back to a state of readiness to resume nuclear explosive testing,” Jeffrey Lewis, director of the center’s East Asia Nonproliferation Program, and Dave Schmerler, a senior research associate, wrote in a report published March 7.

North Korea’s public statements and mounting evidence of renovations at its nuclear test site suggest a nuclear test on the horizon, the regime’s first since Sept. 3, 2017, when it claimed to have successfully tested a hydrogen bomb.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

It seems there was enough South Korean volunteers that joined the Ukrainian military to warrant putting out a press release on their status:

 Some volunteer soldiers from South Korea were deployed in Ukrainian front-line units fighting against Russia, an official from Ukraine’s military has said.

Damien Magrou, a spokesperson for the International Legion for the Defense of Ukraine, confirmed the activities of South Koreans during a recent interview with Yonhap News Agency.

Ukraine has claimed that it established the Ukrainian foreign legion on Feb. 27, days after Russia’s invasion, and over 20,000 people from 52 countries have joined the brigade-level unit.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but interestingly Rhee Keun the former ROK Navy Seal turned Youtuber who volunteered, they say has not been sent to a frontline unit yet.

It looks like South Korea’s COVID numbers is beginning to trend downward to finally match what is going on in much of the rest of the world:

South Korea’s new daily COVID-19 cases fell below 200,000 for the first time in 25 days Monday, as the omicron-driven virus peak appears to have passed amid growing concerns over the spread of the even more transmissible “stealth omicron” subvariant.

The country added 187,213 new coronavirus infections, including 25 cases from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 12,003,054, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. 

It is the first time since March 2 that the daily caseload dropped below 200,000. On March 2, the figure came to 198,803.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

President Moon has quickly changed his mind about helping the Yoon administration move the Presidential office:

President Moon Jae-in said he will “cooperate” with President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol’s plan to relocate the presidential office, Monday, during their first meeting that came 19 days after the presidential election on March 9. 

“President Moon said the decision over the location of the presidential office is fully up to the incoming government,” Yoon’s Chief of Staff Rep. Chang Je-won said during a press briefing held after the meeting. “As an outgoing president, he said he will thoroughly look into the budget related to the relocation plan and cooperate with the president-elect.”

His remarks came days after the two sides had clashed over Yoon’s bid to set up a new presidential office at the defense ministry compound in Seoul’s Yongsan District, and begin his presidency there. Moon had earlier dismissed Yoon’s proposal to finance his presidential office relocation plan from the state reserve fund.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

It appears that since the North Koreans failed in the launch of their new ICBM they decided to fire off their older ICBM and claim it was the new one:

 South Korea and the United States regard North Korea as having disguised its launch of an existing intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) last week as that of a new larger one, informed sources said Sunday.

The allies believe that the North again tested a Hwasong-15 ICBM on Thursday, the same type it fired in late 2017, according to the sources. The North has publicly claimed success in the launch of a Hwasong-17 missile.

Their intelligence analysis suggested that like the Hwasong-15, the ICBM in question had two engine nozzles, whereas the Hwasong-17 has four nozzles. The engine combustion time of the first-stage rocket was also similar to that of the Hwasong-15.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.