SEOUL: The functions of the South Korean presidential office will have been fully relocated to Seoul’s historic Blue House, which is known as Cheong Wa Dae in Korean, from Dec 29, completing the moving process that began on Dec 8.
With the relocation, the official name of the presidential office will also be changed back to Cheong Wa Dae. The phoenix flag, the symbol of the presidential office, was to be simultaneously lowered from Yongsan and hoisted in Cheong Wa Dae at midnight.
According to the presidential office, President Lee Jae Myung will conduct affairs in the aides’ wing, located about 500m south of the main building. The main building will be used for summit meetings and other official events.
The main building was constructed in 1991 to house the president’s office and to hold official ceremonies and events. However, faced with criticism that the building’s location hampered operations, former presidents Roh Moo-hyun, Lee Myung-bak and Moon Jae-in set up their offices in the aides’ wing.
The move back to Cheong Wa Dae comes less than four years after the presidential office moved into the Ministry of National Defence’s complex in Yongsan in May 2022, when former president Yoon Suk Yeol took office.
At the time, the move was publicised as symbolic of the office of the president becoming more open and transparent.
The move, however, faced backlash over costs and controversy surrounding the location of the president’s official residence. Along with the presidential office, the president’s official residence was relocated to the nearby residence of the foreign minister. - The Korea Herald/ANN
