It’s a bit like if, a few days after his election, the new American president announced that the White House was going to be moved to the premises of the Pentagon, or if the Elysée was moving to Place Beauvau.
Yoon Seok-yeol, whose induction will take place on May 10, wishes “give the Blue House back to the people”, is the name of the historic residence of the South Korean president. He wants to settle in the offices of the current Ministry of Defense: “The Blue House is a symbol of imperialism. I will never move there.
I ask the people to understand that this is not just a simple move, but it is my determination to serve them, to work well and to keep the promises I made to them.”
This is an idea that is not very popular. Recent polls showed that between 53% and 58% of South Koreans were opposed to the project. Petitions have started to flourish on the internet, one of them already has nearly half a million signatories.
First, if the decision is not well received in the country, his supporters are largely in favor of a move. The objective according to the new conservative president is to get closer to the people. It is true that the current presidential residence is high up on a fairly isolated mountain, and the new location should allow better government communication closer to the general public. “As president I will always communicate with the press, I will find a way to change the way of workingasserts Yoon Seok-yeol. We will break old habits where the presidential office monopolized power by reigning over other branches of the executive.”
The other argument is security, while North Korea continues its missile tests at the beginning of the year, Yoon believes that the premises of the Ministry of Defense are better equipped to protect it. But during the press conference he held to present his project, he revealed where several classified installations were located. Which was not the best way to defend an already very controversial move.
A petition has been launched demanding for South Korea’s president-elect Yoon Suk-yeol to be punished for divulging state secrets in violation of the country’s national security law while discussing the relocation of the presidential office to the defense ministry compound. pic.twitter.com/t1cmachMBn
— Raphael Rashid (@koryodynasty) March 20, 2022
In the first place, it is its cost that is pointed out: around 40 million dollars, according to the Yoon camp and rather 820 million dollars according to the Democrats opposed to the project. A move in the coming weeks also seems difficult to achieve: the current President Moon Jae-in is opposed to the project and without his approval it is difficult to imagine that the entire presidential administration will change offices in a month and a half.
Observers believe that the motivation behind the project is of spiritual origin. During the campaign, many rumors ensured that the future presidential couple was advised by Shamans. One of them would have advised Yoon to move once he came to power because the Blue House would mean bad luck for those who resided there.
Whatever the reason for this desire for change, the epilogue of this soap opera will take place in a few weeks. See you on May 10 when Yoon Seok-yeol takes office, at the Blue House or elsewhere.