SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – South Korean President Lee Jae Myung on Monday moved to Cheong Wa Dae, the country’s traditional presidential palace, for the first time since taking office in June, more than three years after his ousted predecessor Yoon Suk Yeol ran the presidential office in the Defense Ministry compound.
It was the first time a president moved to Cheong Wa Dae since May 9, 2022, the last day of former President Moon Jae-in’s term, before Yoon began his presidency working from a converted Defense Ministry building.
Lee, who won a snap presidential election in June after Yoon was ousted by a brief declaration of martial law in December 2024, has spent weeks relocating the presidential office back to Cheong Wa Dae, also known as the Blue House, as he seeks to undo the legacy of his now-imprisoned predecessor.
Cheong Wa Dae is nestled on the lower slopes of a mountain in northern Seoul, and occupies about 250,000 square meters (62 acres) behind the historic Gyeongbokgung Palace. The site, which has undergone several renovations over the decades, has served primarily as the country’s presidential office since the establishment of the government following independence from Japanese colonial rule at the end of World War II.
Arguing that the Cheong Wa Dae hill was too isolated from the public, Yoon reportedly spent about $40 million to relocate the presidential office to several buildings in the Defense Ministry compound in Yongsan in central Seoul, dismissing security and cost concerns and claiming the move would make his presidency more democratic. After the relocation, he opened parts of Cheong Wa Dae to the public as a tourist site, attracting millions of visitors.
Yoon, a staunch conservative, later triggered the country’s deepest democratic crisis in decades when he declared martial law on December 3, 2024, during a break with Lee’s liberal Democratic Party, which controlled the legislature and blocked much of his political agenda.
The martial law lasted only hours, after a quorum of legislators broke through a military blockade and voted to lift the measure. Yoon was impeached later that month, removed from office in April by a Constitutional Court ruling and arrested again in July. He now faces serious criminal charges, including rebellion, which carries a possible life sentence or the death penalty.
Before Lee’s trip, officials raised a presidential flag with two phoenixes in Cheong Wa Dae at midnight, which marked the return of the palace as the official presidential office. Guards saluted as Lee’s motorcade passed through the gates of the compound, as dozens of nearby supporters waved the South Korean flag and chanted his name. Lee’s office later released a video of him having a tea meeting with senior aides in one of Cheong Wa Dae’s rooms.
Lee’s office said he will travel from the current presidential residence to another part of Seoul until it is moved back to Cheong Wa Dae at an unspecified date.