New president favoring drab over blue in symbolic gesture
Print Edition
SOUTH Korea’s new president has pledged to work out of a drab, decades-old government building in central Seoul instead of the grandiose presidential Blue House, a symbolic gesture that brings a logistical headache for his security staff.
Moon Jae-in, 64, was sworn in yesterday and vowed to immediately tackle the pressing problem of North Korea’s advancing nuclear ambitions and to soothe tension with the United States and China.
A liberal former human rights lawyer, Moon rose to power on promises of a more just and fair society. He has vowed to “end the culture of an authoritarian presidency,” an image that bedevilled Moon’s disgraced predecessor, Park Geun-hye.
“I will leave the Blue House and begin the age of a ‘Gwanghwamun president’ as soon as preparations are done,” Moon said. Gwanghwamun is Seoul’s historic center and main ceremonial thoroughfare.
Flanked by royal palaces from South Korea’s dynastic past, it is also home to some of the country’s main corporations and financial institutions, embassies, hotels and a concert hall.
But most importantly for Moon and his supporters, it was the site of candlelit protests against Park that helped pave the way for Moon’s victory months later.
At one corner of the plaza, across the road from Seoul’s landmark Gyeongbokgung palace, stands a tall, plain building within a complex Moon has said will one day house his office.
The Seoul Government Complex comprises three buildings and contains several government offices, including the Ministry of Unification, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and soon, the presidential office.
But the buildings, including the largest, aging 1970s structure, will need major renovations and security upgrades to meet standards in a country still technically at war with North Korea.
“It’s going to be a headache,” said one insider, who asked not to be identified. “Security will have to be strengthened a lot. It’s unrealistic”.
The plan to leave the Blue House has echoes of the security nightmare, and the millions of dollars in expenses, that arose when US President Donald Trump’s wife and son decided to stay in his Manhattan tower block, and not at the White House.
Protection for South Korea’s leader got deadly serious in 1968, when North Korean commandos attempted to assassinate President Park Chung-hee but were stopped by police 800 meters from the Blue House.
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