South Korean presidential office to return to Blue House, ”symbol of authority” = Is it also an attempt to erase the negative image of the previous administration?

On the 10th of this month, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung said that the presidential office, which was relocated to the former Ministry of National Defense building by the previous administration of President Yoon Seok-yeol, was being used as a military base.
The Blue House is currently open to the public, but it will be closed to the public and renovation work will begin. The presidential office is expected to return to the Blue House around the end of September.
The Blue House was used as the presidential office for successive governments. Its name comes from the fact that the roof of the official residence is covered with blue tiles. The surrounding area was originally home to royal families during the Goryeo Dynasty.
During the colonial period, the residence of the Governor-General of Korea was built in July 1939, and when the Republic of Korea was established in 1948, the first president, Lee Seung-man, renamed the former residence of the Governor-General of Korea Gyeongmudae.
It began to be used as the official residence of the government. In December 1960, the fourth president, Yun Bo-sung, changed the name to the Blue House. The current Blue House was completed in 1991 during the administration of Roh Tae-woo.
The site is a massive 25 square meters, more than three times the size of the White House, and includes the president's office, the official residence where the president and his family live, and a building where his secretaries work.
The distance between the main building where the presidential office is located and the building where the secretaries are stationed is more than 500 meters, showing just how vast the building is.
When visiting the office, it was necessary to obtain permission by phone in advance. Regarding the Blue House, former President Yoon, who criticized the "closed-doors politics" of the previous Moon Jae-in administration, has been trying to close the gap with the people.
He declared that he wanted to "return the Blue House to the people." The Blue House building and grounds were opened to the public in time for Yoon's inauguration ceremony in May 2022.
The former presidents Roh Moo-hyun and Moon also made this a campaign promise, but it was shelved due to security and safety reasons. It was finally realized under the Yoon administration.
At the time, some people said that the end of the "Wadai era" was a major turning point in modern Korean history. Former President Yoon lived in Yongsan, Seoul, about 6 kilometers from the Blue House.
He began working in the former Ministry of National Defense building in the district, and moved his official residence from the Blue House to another location. Meanwhile, Lee Jae-myung, who was inaugurated as president on the 4th of this month, has been voicing his intentions as a presidential candidate, saying, "If I win, I will
"We will continue to use the presidential office in Yongsan, but it would be better to quickly renovate the Blue House and move there," he said, announcing his intention to move the presidential office back to the Blue House. "The issue of wiretapping and security at the Yongsan presidential office is serious," he said.
Former President Yoon was impeached and removed from office for declaring "emergency martial law" in December last year, and the current presidential office was the "stage" for that emergency martial law.
The negative image of the former Yun administration, which had been forced to relocate the presidential office from the Blue House to the Blue House, is also believed to be one of the reasons for the move. On the 10th, Lee announced that he would pay 25.9 billion won (approximately 2.7 billion yen) to move the presidential office back to the Blue House.
The Cabinet decided to spend 100,000 yen from the reserve fund. Currently, the Blue House building and grounds are open to the public, and the President's office and Cabinet meeting rooms in the main building can be visited and photographed.
Recently, there has been an increase in "last-minute visitors" who want to see the film before it is suspended. According to South Korean media, the weekend viewing slots in June are already fully booked.
The nearby roads are crowded with Korean buses carrying tour groups. Due to the relocation, restrictions will be placed on the number of reservations from mid-next month, and the facility will be closed to the public from August.
Lee is currently working in the presidential office in Yongsan, which was used by former President Yoon, but on the first day of his inauguration on the 4th, he said of the current presidential office,
"It's like a graveyard. There's nothing. No staff can provide me with writing utensils. There are no computers, no printers," he said.
On the 5th, House of Representatives Leader Yukikane also criticized the previous administration at a Supreme Committee meeting held in the Diet, saying, "It was a criminal act to leave without a successor staff member, and without even a computer, printer, or writing utensils."
Lee is also living in the official residence in Hannam-dong, Seoul, where former President Yoon lived, until the relocation of the presidential office is completed.
The government stated that the reason for the decision to use the facility was in response to concerns about the waste of tax money caused by moving.