The scheduled meeting between President Moon Jae-in and President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol has been postponed due to the fact that working-level, pre-meeting conversations have not been finished yet, according to both parties.

It had been planned for Moon and Yoon to meet for lunch at Cheong Wa Dae on Wednesday, marking their first encounter since Yoon was elected president last week, though the two had spoken by phone a day after the election.

According to Moon's spokesman Park Kyung-mee, "working-level consultations have not yet been concluded, therefore we have chosen to delay the meeting." "We will continue to have consultations at the working level."

A similar statement was made by Yoon's spokesman Kim Eun-hye.

Chang Je-won, Yoon's chief of staff, and Lee Cheol-hee, senior presidential secretary for political affairs, have conducted pre-meeting discussions aimed at establishing the agenda for the meeting.

Both parties did not disclose specifics about the issues that were at issue.

One of them, though, might be a debate over whether or not to pardon imprisoned former President Lee Myung-bak, since Yoon had intended to request a special pardon for Lee, who is now serving a 17-year prison sentence for corruption and bribery.

Along with the presidential transition, Moon and Yoon were anticipated to speak about a variety of other topics as well, including coronavirus reactions and North Korea's efforts to test-fire a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

In an interview with the Yonhap News Agency, a senior official at Cheong Wa Dae stated that the two parties required additional time to define the agenda because they did not have enough conversations before to the Wednesday meeting.

Although the Wednesday meeting was originally intended to be a gathering for exchanging well-wishes and vowing a peaceful transition of power, according to one official, it turned into a series of formal discussions with a predetermined outcome in mind.

A senior official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, warned that holding a meeting without having enough talks on the topic might be difficult under these circumstances.

In addition, whether Moon should utilize his authority to choose the heads of state institutions in his final months in office, such as the Bank of Korea Governor, whose term expires at the end of this month, might be a contentious matter.

The spokeswoman for Yoon's camp, Kim, stated earlier this week that the presidential campaign had requested that Cheong Wa Dae confer with the president-camp elect's on important personnel nominations for key positions.

Although the idea was refused by a top official at Cheong Wa Dae, the official stated that it was normal for Moon to utilize his authority to nominate employees until the end of his tenure in early May.