President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol on Saturday visited the foreign ministry building and the defense ministry compound, which are candidate sites for his planned relocation of the presidential office.
He met with ministerial officials there and discussed the advantages and disadvantages of the two places as locations for the next presidential office, according to Yoon’s secretariat.
Yoon was briefed by Defense Minister Suh Wook and Second Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-moon at the respective ministries.
President-elect Yoon and the participants inspected the candidate sites to review which location is more suitable in terms of communication with the people and national security, as well as whether it brings any inconvenience to the people and whether it provides a good working environment for the staff and experts,” Yoon’s spokesperson, Kim Eun-hye, said after his visit.
“We will listen attentively to the voices of each and every citizen,” she added.
Yoon’s transition team announced Saturday evening that the president-elect will hold a press conference at 11 a.m. Sunday at the team’s headquarters in Samcheong-dong, Seoul. It will be Yoon’s first presser since his election.
The transition office didn’t specify what the press conference will be about, but Yoon is expected to address his relocation plans.
The former prosecutor general was elected president on March 9. During the campaign, he promised to “return” Cheong Wa Dae to the public in a move intended to demonstrate his commitment to removing the office of the president from its high pedestal.
He pledged to move the presidential office to the main government complex in Gwanghwamun, central Seoul. But his transition team later found the plan infeasible in terms of security.
The team is now weighing an annex building currently used by the foreign ministry and the defense ministry compound in Yongsan.
The team estimates that relocating to the defense ministry compound and to the foreign ministry building will cost 40 billion won (US$33 million) and 80 billion won, respectively.
President Moon Jae-in also pledged to move the presidential office but withdrew the plan over logistical and security issues.
Source: Yonhap News Agency