There are signs that the ”Second Annex” of the Presidential Office, which was abolished under the current South Korean administration, may be revived. What is the aim?

According to South Korean media, the South Korean presidential office has begun reorganizing the presidential secretariat to re-establish a "Second Secretary" to assist the president's spouse.
The president pledged to abolish the tax in the 2022 presidential election, and it was abolished when the Yoon administration took office. However, Yoon's wife, Kim Gun-Hee, is currently under suspicion of stock price manipulation.
On the 20th of last month, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office questioned Kim. The suspicions surrounding Kim are one of the factors behind President Yoon's declining approval rating, and the Presidential Office has decided to revive the "Second Annex."
The former presidential office was divided into two sections: the First Annex, which was responsible for managing the president's official schedule and secretarial duties, and the Second Annex, which was responsible for managing the schedule and activities of the president's spouse.
However, Yoon has been calling for the streamlining of the presidential office since he was a presidential candidate.
"She is extremely reluctant to follow the president," he said, "The First Lady is nothing more than a family member. It is not appropriate to make her status as the spouse of the president a customary one," and he abolished the second annex.
The decision was made to merge the office with the First Annex, but concerns were raised at the time that this could lead to the influence of the spouse on the president's work.
When Yoon was elected, Mrs. Kim said in a media interview, "Rather than being called the wife of the president, I would rather call her the spouse of the president."
"I think that's a good way to express it. I understand that the role is to respond to the people's demands in line with the times and the image of society. I want to support the candidate (Yoon) so that he can focus on national affairs," she said.
From these comments, it seemed that Mrs. Kim would take a stance different from the conventional image of a "First Lady," but she worked energetically as the wife of the President.
When Yoon visited Japan in March last year, Kim visited the Japan Folk Crafts Museum and the Tokyo Korean School separately from Yoon, and also had a meeting with architect Tadao Ando, with whom she has a close relationship.
He also had the opportunity to try making Japanese sweets with Yuko, wife of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Kim also accompanied Yoon to the G7 Summit in Hiroshima in May last year, when Yoon attended as a guest of the country.
Naka, along with Yoon and Kishida, visited the Korean Atomic Bomb Victims Memorial in Hiroshima to pay tribute to the victims of the atomic bomb. However, two suspicions have been raised about Kim. One is that he was involved in an import car dealership.
The case is over three years from 2009 to 2012, when the CEO of Deutsche Motors at the time and others manipulated the company's stock price, resulting in a total of 20
It is alleged that Kim has provided funds for stock price manipulation and that he has directly or
The second allegation is that Kim received a Dior bag from a Korean pastor living in the United States in September 2022.
In South Korea, there is a law that prohibits public officials and their spouses from receiving money or gifts above a certain amount in connection with their work, and Kim is suspected of violating the law.
The allegations arose when a YouTube channel critical of the administration posted a video purporting to have documented the whole incident.
"I would like to apologize to the public for causing concern due to my wife's actions, which are not just for public opinion," he said. The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office has set up an investigative team to investigate the allegations.
On the 12th, the local prosecutors' office questioned Kim for 12 hours. After the questioning, Kim's side commented, "We participated in the investigation sincerely and told the truth."
In this context, the Presidential Office is reorganizing the Presidential Secretariat to re-establish the abolished “Second Annex” of the Presidential Office.
The Korean public broadcaster KBS and other media reported the news on the 30th of last month. In South Korea, there has been criticism that the abolition of the second annex in relation to the Kim scandal has made the activities of the first lady less transparent.
Concerns are growing, and a senior official in the presidential office said in January this year, "We haven't built a second annex until now because the president pledged not to do so, but if the majority of the public thinks it would be better to set one up, we will consider it."
The reason why the Presidential Office has begun to move in earnest to re-establish the second annex is because it believes that the allegations against Mrs. Kim could have a negative impact on Yoon's future administration of state affairs.
It is believed that the aim of reviving it is to bring transparency to work related to Mrs. Kim.