Yoon, Moon butt heads over moving president's office

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Yoon, Moon butt heads over moving president's office

Published: 22 Mar. 2022, 17:53 Updated: 22 Mar. 2022, 18:54

President Moon Jae-in vows to fulfill his duty as commander-in-chief until the end of his term in a Cabinet meeting at the Blue House in central Seoul Tuesday. The Blue House expressed worries Monday over President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol’s plans to relocate the presidential office to the Defense Ministry compound in Yongsan, citing security concerns. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

The Blue House and incoming president are locking horns over relocating the presidential office to the Defense Ministry in Yongsan in central Seoul.

President Moon Jae-in in a National Security Council (NSC) meeting said Monday he was worried that such a move could leave a "security vacuum" on the Korean Peninsula.

He was responding to President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol's plan to relocate the presidential office to the National Defense Ministry compound in Yongsan District right after his inauguration on May 10. The move would require major reshuffling within the compound, including the Defense Ministry moving into the adjacent Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) headquarters.

Park Soo-hyun, senior presidential secretary for public communication, said after the NSC meeting Monday afternoon that Moon "sympathizes with the idea of returning the Blue House to the people," having made a similar pledge of a Gwanghwamun presidential office during his presidential campaign.
But Park noted that the plan to relocate the Defense Ministry, JCS, the presidential office and presidential security in such a short period of time seems to be "unreasonable."

North Korea conducted 10 missile tests this year, and Seoul and Washington are scheduled to hold an annual military joint exercise in April, putting the move at an especially busy and delicate time for the Defense Ministry.

"As the security crisis on the Korean Peninsula is escalating," said Park, "it is necessary to sufficiently look into concerns that the unprepared moving of the Defense Ministry, JCS and the Blue House crisis management center could cause a security vacuum and confusion during a government transition period when security capability is most important."

The Blue House's objection could be a big problem for the transition team's plan to move the presidential office to Yongsan with less than 50 days until Yoon's inauguration.

Yoon's decision to relocate the presidential office is part of a campaign pledge to bring the president closer to the people. He has described the secluded Blue House, located in northern Gwanghwamun, as a symbol of "imperial power" and made it clear he has no intention of moving into its compound. His initial pledge was to move the presidential office to Gwanghwamun, but that plan was scrapped because of security concerns and higher costs.

Under the Yongsan plan, the presidential office will move into the 10-story main building of the Defense Ministry. In turn, Defense Ministry personnel will move into the JCS headquarters next door, while the JCS will partly move into the Army public affairs division building. Eventually, the JCS is expected to be relocated to the Namtaeryeong area in southern Seoul, where the war command is situated. The Defense Ministry could also eventually relocate to the government complex in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi.

A national park will be built on land returned from the nearby U.S. Army Garrison in Yongsan, and Yoon promises the public more access to the president and his office. The Blue House compound will be turned into a public museum or park at the beginning of Yoon's term, according to this plan.

Yoon's transition team initially estimated a budget of 49.6 billion won ($40.9 million) for the presidential office relocation. However, the estimate didn't appear to cover any other expenses than the move of the president's office.

If the JCS moves to a war command center in Namtaeryeong, southern Seoul, the construction cost for a new building could be around 120 billion won, Yoon's spokesperson Kim Eun-hye said Monday.
Addressing the Blue House objection, spokesperson Kim said in a press briefing Tuesday, "We are well aware that the people's demand for a change in government is also a sincere wish for it to work properly."

She continued, "We want to work. Please help us work."

Kim also rejected reports that the transition team was asking Moon to vacate the Blue House premises before midnight on May 10 so that Yoon can open the compound to the public the same day.

"We are not scary tenants," she said. "What we mean is that because President-elect Yoon will begin his official duties as commander-in-chief that day, he will symbolically keep his promises with responsibility to the people."

Cabinet approval is needed to fund the presidential office move. Moon has stressed that the president remains commander-in-chief until his term ends on May 9.

Should Moon block the presidential office relocation plan and Yoon refuses to enter the Blue House, the new president may have to begin his term in his transition office in Tongui-dong, central Seoul.

Moon in a Cabinet meeting later Tuesday stressed, "I will consider it my last mission to fulfill my duties as head of state, head of the administration and commander-in-chief of the military, as granted to the president by the Constitution."

He told his aides, "There cannot be even a small vacuum in state affairs. In particular, there must be not a single gap moment in national security, the economy and public safety."

Noting that the security situation on the Korean Peninsula is "grave," he stressed that now is the time for the military to "maintain its highest security readiness."

Moon and Yoon have yet to meet since a luncheon at the Blue House was abruptly canceled last week. The two sides claimed to need more preparatory work, but had clashed over the issue of end-of-term personnel appointments to public institutions. Such an in-person meeting could possibly resolve some of the issues between the president and his successor.

Lawmakers of the ruling Democratic Party (DP) and opposition People Power Party (PPP) butted heads over the issue Tuesday in a defense committee hearing at the National Assembly Tuesday.

Defense Minister Suh Wook was grilled on the Yongsan relocation plan by the parliamentary committee and said he was first informed about the plan from Yoon's transition team on March 14.

The Defense Ministry said that the relocation of the ministry's offices to the JCS building and other facilities will take at least four weeks and a minimum budget of 11.8 billion won for moving. The current departments housed in the Defense Ministry's main building are expected to be dispersed across eight government facilities including the JCS headquarters, an annex building, the former Defense Acquisition Program Administration building and Korea Meteorological Administration.

When asked if a Defense Ministry move will be possible within two months, Suh replied, "I don't think it would be done under normal procedures."

Suh added that building a new JCS headquarters is expected to cost more than the 120 billion won estimate raised by Yoon's spokesperson the previous day, taking into consideration that it cost 175 billion won to build the current building in 2010, and noting inflation and other factors.

DP Rep. Suh Hoon, a fifth-term lawmaker, said, "Moving the presidential office is not a child's joke, and even if it is relocated to Yongsan, you have to take the time to do it properly," adding it is not too late to move into the Blue House.

PPP Rep. Sung Il-jong acknowledged that the time for moving is "tight" but noted, "if there are security vacuum concerns, the old and new power can cooperate," adding "a solution can be achieved only through cooperation in the process of transitioning governments."

DP lawmakers in the meeting questioned the rush, some hinting that Yoon might have undisclosed reasons for not wanting to move into the Blue House, such as feng shui. PPP representatives said that the Yongsan move was considered feasible by the Defense Ministry and a promise to the people.

Officials on Yoon's transition team accused the Blue House and DP of objecting to the Yongsan move for the sake of whipping up support for the June local elections.

The majority of the public wasn't keen on moving the president out of the Blue House, with 58.1 percent surveyed against the plan, according to a poll conducted by Mediatomato released Tuesday.
In contrast, 33 percent supported the relocation and 8.7 percent were unsure in the poll conducted over Saturday and Sunday on 1,018 adults.

BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]