South Korea’s president-elect says he will abandon the current mountainside presidential palace of Blue House and establish his office in central Seoul as part of efforts to better communicate with the public.
Relocating the presidential office was one of President-elect Yoon Suk Yeol’s main campaign promises. The conservative former top prosecutor whose single five-year term begins on May 10 said the location and design of the Blue House have fed criticisms that South Korean presidents are cut off from the public and wield excessive power.
At a televised news conference Sunday, Yoon said he will move the presidential office to the Defense Ministry compound in central Seoul and that he’ll begin his term there. He said Defense Ministry officials would be moved to the Joint Chiefs of Staff building at the compound and that JCS staff would be moved in phases to a war command center near Seoul.
Critics of Yoon’s plan have called on him not to rush the relocation, saying other tasks require more urgent attention, such as surging COVID-19 cases, the North Korean nuclear threat and diverse economic woes. They also say the relocation could inconvenience the public and require excessive spending.
Yoon said he was aware of concerns about the relocation, but said if he starts his term at the Blue House, which critics have called “a symbol of imperial power,” it will become harder to move out of it.
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