Seoul ¨C When North Korea on Thursday conducted a test of its most ?powerful intercontinental ballistic missile to date, South Korea¡¯s Defense Ministry was busy with another urgent task: making plans to move.
Earlier this month, South Korea¡¯s president-elect, Yoon Suk-yeol, announced plans to move the Defense Ministry to another building in Seoul so that his presidential office could move into the ministry¡¯s current headquarters by May 10, the day of his inauguration.
The ministry was caught off guard by Yoon¡¯s decision, which came at a time when North Korea is rapidly escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula. North Korea has often used presidential transitions as an opportunity to make a show of force. This year, the confusion created by Yoon¡¯s plan to relocate both the presidential office and the Defense Ministry could add to the South¡¯s security concerns, analysts said.
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