Lee Jae-myung's dubious Sejong relocation campaign pledge

Home > Opinion > Columns

Lee Jae-myung's dubious Sejong relocation campaign pledge

Published: 30 Apr. 2025, 00:02

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

Han Eun-wha

The author is a national news reporter at the JoongAng Ilbo.

Relocating the presidential office and the National Assembly to Sejong City: this was a campaign pledge by Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party's presidential candidate, during the party’s primary race. Lee vowed to complete Sejong’s status as the administrative capital. He made similar promises during the last presidential election as well. Yet during the period when the opposition, then the ruling party, held power, constitutional amendments to formally designate Sejong as the capital were not pursued. Only recently, in the lead-up to the election, have lawmakers from the Chungcheong region begun pushing for related legislation.

The Blue House grounds in central Seoul filled with visitors on April 9. [NEWS1]

Overshadowed by the broader Sejong agenda is the fact that Lee has proposed not one, but two interim presidential offices before reaching Sejong. Lee has said he would first use the current Yongsan presidential office, while planning to renovate and move back into the former Blue House. Sejong City would eventually be the final destination, he said, but only in the long term. Moving the presidential office even once is a massive undertaking — yet Lee proposes to do it twice. One cannot help but wonder about the real intent behind this plan.

Among civil servants, there is a pragmatic consensus that, for better or worse, the Yongsan office must be used first. This presidential election is a by-election following impeachment, and the inauguration will take place the very next day after the election. Without a presidential transition team or a formal handover process, the incoming president must immediately begin working. Moving the presidential office under such conditions would be enormously difficult. Although former President Yoon Suk Yeol demonstrated his determination by relocating the office to Yongsan within just two months after declaring he would not set foot in the Blue House, it remains a daunting task. Technically, it would be possible to utilize the Sejong Government Complex Building 1 or other facilities to launch the Sejong era immediately. Ultimately, more important than administrative practicality is the new president’s resolute will.

However, Lee has pledged to return to the Blue House from Yongsan. This would involve re-closing the Blue House — which has been opened to the public — conducting expensive security upgrades and renovations, and moving thousands of staff members from the presidential office and security services back into the compound. And preparations for yet another move to Sejong would then have to begin. If Lee’s promises are to be taken at face value, his term could end up being consumed by constant office relocations and construction projects.

The presidential office building in Yongsan District, central Seoul on April 4 [KIM HYUN-DONG]

If Lee’s call for a Sejong era is more than just an election slogan, he should instead have promised to build the planned second Sejong presidential office as the sole presidential office. The National Agency for Administrative City Construction plans to hold an international design competition for the second presidential office in Sejong this year. The basic design will vary drastically depending on whether it is conceived as a secondary office subordinate to Seoul or as the singular presidential headquarters. The same applies to the National Assembly’s relocation. As it stands, neither the presidential office nor the legislative facilities in Sejong would be large enough to accommodate all necessary staff. Rather than hastily cobbling together buildings and later wasting taxpayer money on expansion and renovation, the new facilities must be constructed with the dignity and scale appropriate for a new era.

That is, if the pledge to usher in a Sejong era is truly sincere.

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.