President Moon Jae-in, who is barred from seeking re-election after his five-year term, and the North’s leader had warm parting words amid a diplomatic stalemate.
The South Korean president-elect’s decision to move both the presidential office and the Defense Ministry comes at a time when North Korea is rapidly escalating tension.
It was the country’s first long-range ballistic missile test since 2017, and it raised the specter of intensified provocations and threats on the Korean Peninsula.