The complex of multiple buildings, more known as the Blue House (Korean: Cheongwadae) has been the symbol of the presidential administration of the Republic of Korea similar to the Kremlin in Russia and the White House in the US. Located at the foot of Bukhansan mountain behind the Gyeongbokgung palace, it combined the functions of the presidential office and the residence of the head of the state.
The main 8476 square meter building of the Blue House was built in 1927 in traditional Korean architectural style during the Japanese occupation of Korea as the residency of the Japanese Governor-General. After the liberation of Korea in 1945 and foundation of the ROK in 1948 incumbent Korean presidents started using the building. A living house for presidents was additionally constructed in 1990.
The complaints about the Blue House started to accumulate long ago. First of all, the building of the secretariat is situated half a kilometer away from the main building, meaning it takes the presidential aides around 10 minutes of walking to inform the president of the state affairs. Secondly, the remote location has been criticized as, allegedly, the president does not communicate with the public, while the style of the building is more reminiscent of the royal palace. Thirdly, the apparatus of the Blue House was parallel to the government and held much of the unofficial power, creating a breeding ground for malfeasance. All of this made the Blue House (literally and metaphorically) the symbol of the “imperial presidency.”
When the president Moon Jae-in came to power as a result of the Candlelight revolution, accusing the former president Park Geun-hye of lacking connection to the people, he also promised to relocate the presidential office to the very center of Seoul, the Gwanghwamun Square, which was a popular place for demonstrations and protests, in order to demonstrate affinity for aspirations of the masses. But in January 2019 Moon broke his promise, citing issues with securing a new working space, reasonably large enough to fit all of the presidential personnel as well as potential security risks. The district did not seem to offer enough space for hundreds of employees and security of the presidential administration and a site to host formal events for guests. And even there were some issues with landing zone for the presidential helicopter. However, according to the critics of Moon, having spent two years in the Blue House, the president considers it too comfortable and cozy to move somewhere else.
The newly elected Yoon Seok-yeol also called the Blue House a symbol of the unbridled power given to the presidents and, unlike Moon, initiated the relocation of the presidential office immediately.
It was announced on March 17 that Yoon Suk-yeol decided to relocate the presidential office either to the Foreign Ministry office on the Gwanghwamun square, or to the Defense Ministry complex in the Yongsan District. On March 20, Yoon Seok-yeol revealed that he would relocate right after the inauguration on May 10. On that same day the entire Blue House will be open for public.
Spanning about 276,000 square meters, the compound accommodates the Defense Ministry’s 10-story main building, the JCS headquarters, the Cyber Operations Command, the Central Investigation Command, the Defense Installations Agency, the military court and prosecution and other installations with over 4000 servicemen and public officials.
Now in less than two months the ROK government shall implement the complicated system of moving:
The presidential residency will be located in an existing official residencies in the Hannam-dong District, possibly in the residence of the Chief of Army Staff. In another opinion, the future president and his family will be staying in the incumbent Prime Minister’s residence in the Jongno District of Seoul. Later the office of the Prime Minister will relocate to the Sejong City, the administrative megalopolis with its construction completed in 2013 in the province of South Chungcheong.
The term “Blue House” is not in use anymore. There will be only the Office of the President with its authority probably reduced as well as the number of employees. The new name of the presidential office will be decided in the open competition.
The Office of the President takes the building earlier occupied by the Defense Ministry which in turn is moving into the adjacent JCS building. This is related to the remote location of the Ministry of National Defense building where there is no high buildings in its vicinity which create security risks. Besides, there is enough space and it has an underground bunker which can be used in case of emergency.
The Defense Ministry plans to move into the adjacent building housing JCS. Initially the move was scheduled to take place before the end of March, but as requested by the Ministry the date was changed to April 10. The only question is how quickly the protected military telecommunications used in exchange of intelligence and other documents between the Ministry and key departments of the JCS will be restored. There are certain concerns that when re-installed the networks might be exposed to online attacks.
The JCS is most likely at some point to move into the building of the Capital Defense Command in Namtaeryeong, southern Seoul.
A national park is to be constructed on the grounds of the former American military base next to the complex.
According to the spokesperson of the President-elect Kim Eun-hye, Yoon Suk-yeol intends to open the Blue House for public “before spring flowers wither”.
How much is this going to cost? Citing the estimations by the Ministry of Finance, the President-elect announced that the relocation will cost approximately 49.6 billion won ($40.8 billion) to be taken out of the state reserves.
11.8 billion won will be allocated to relocation of the Defense Ministry into the JCS building, 25.2 billion won will be spent on the re-equipment of the Defense Ministry building into the presidential office and 9.9 billion will be allocated to relocation of the office of the Presidential Security Service.
If the JCS relocates to Namtaeryeong the new building will cost 120 billion won.
Naturally, Yoon’s plans were met with criticism, both constructive and non-constructive given the factional struggle. The author finds the following critique constructive.
The building of the Defense Ministry is located in a relatively deserted area, while the planned construction of the park can takes years, since the land has not been returned from the American military. It means, that the president relocates from one isolated area into another.
The road connecting the Defense Ministry and the adjacent Hannam-dong District already suffers from heavy traffic. If it is closed for the president then the road situation will become even worse.
A number of acting and former military servicemen fear that the mass relocation of the defense-related agencies opens a certain window of vulnerability. Thus on March 19, eleven of the former chairmen of JCS of ROK expressed concerns about a possible vacuum in security. In their statement they claim that during the relocation of the Defense Ministry and the Joint Chiefs of Staff to the new places there can be issues with quick response to possible missile launches and nuclear tests by North Korea. However, it is worth mentioning that this is a temporary window and there is no need to overestimate actions of the North to the point of the real threat.
Placing the administration into the Defense Ministry building complex gives a potential enemy a possibility to simultaneously attack the government and the military command.
Finally, there are concerns that the relocation will not be complete in time or will be highly expensive, which will damage the effective functioning of the new president.
When it comes to the non-constructive critique, there are several functionaries of the Democratic Party to note.
Yun Ho-jung, the DPK’s emergency committee head asks, “The land in Yongsan is replete with a history of humiliation, where armed forces of Qing Dynasty and Imperial Japan were stationed. Is it proper for the presidential office to be relocated there?”
Tak Hyun Min, protocol secretary of the president Moon Jae-in, who previously organized K-pop concert, played a certain part in organizing events of the Moon election campaign and held large advertisement events at the Blue House, not only called the relocation of the office a waste of tens of billions of won but also resolved to the killing argument of the Democrats: Japanese colonial masters had turned Seoul’s Changgyeong Palace into a zoo, saying they would return the palace to the people! People Power Party found Tak’s comments rather inappropriate and the comparison between Yoon and a Japanese resident-general of Korea an “insult”.
Kim Chong-in, the former head of the election committee of Yoon, said that instead of relocating the government should prioritize helping small business owners who suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Moon Jae-in who should present the relocation budget also expressed his disagreement with the quick relocation.
Naturally, the “shaman topic” was not forgotten. Lee Jae-oh, the resident advisor of People Power Party claimed that a sudden emergence of Yongsan as the most likely place for relocation can be based on geomantic theories that define benevolent locations for buildings using topography.
On March 17, the Democrats organized an online petition on the website of the presidential administration, saying that “in order to satisfy his own ambitions the President elect intends to carry out a forced relocation of special facilities of the Defense Ministry, the stronghold of the national security.” Besides, the relocation of the administration will cause an unnecessary expenditure of taxpayers’ money. As of 15:30 of March 21, the petition gathered more than 328 thousand signatures.
According to the poll conducted on March 19-20 by Media Tomato, 58.1% of responders spoke against the plan for relocation of the presidential administration and believed that Yoon should work in the Blue House. The plan is supported by 33.1% of the population.
The opinions of Seoul residents were also divided. On an online forum of residents in the Yongsan District, a user wrote that the plan will benefit the area, as parks around the new presidential office will jack up the housing prices as well as dismissing the rumors that public rental apartments will be built on the site of US Army Garrison. On the other hand, concerns were also raised over traffic congestion due to the presidential motorcade, possible regulations on the height of new buildings and an air defense battery surrounding the presidential office.
Here are some conclusions. Sure, this is a controversial and in many regards symbolic question, but the author would like to conclude with Yoon’s quote: “I realize the concerns over us possibly hurrying with relocating the presidential office, since it is only 50 days before the start of my term… However, I have decided that once we have entered the Blue House it would be even harder to break away from the Blue House, the symbol of the imperial power.”
Konstantin Asmolov, PhD in History, leading research fellow at the Center for Korean Studies of the Institute of the Far East at the Russian Academy of Sciences, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.