Ministry of National Defense: "It Is Difficult for All Employees at the New Office Building to Serve as Directors"

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol is holding a press conference on the relocation of the Blue House presidential office to the Yongsan Ministry of National Defense building at the press conference room of the Presidential Transition Committee, located in the annex of the Korea Financial Training Institute in Samcheong-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, on the 20th. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] The Ministry of National Defense stated on the 22nd that it is difficult to find space for the chain relocation following the move of the presidential office to Yongsan.

According to the Ministry of National Defense's briefing materials for the National Assembly's National Defense Committee on the morning of the same day, they are considering relocating the Ministry of National Defense's command and the operations and readiness departments to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) building, leaving only the intelligence, operations, and command and control departments within the JCS. Additionally, since there are currently 16 units with about 6,500 personnel stationed within Yongsan, the Ministry explained that it is limited to find all the available space needed for the relocation from the existing offices.

According to the Ministry of National Defense, the Presidential Transition Committee (Transition Committee) requested the Ministry, stating "a prompt move is necessary to ensure working conditions immediately after the inauguration of the president-elect, utilizing existing buildings without private leasing or new construction."

In response, the Ministry of National Defense reported, "Considering the contract period required for the move (2 days) and the minimum actual moving period (about 4 weeks), it is limited to relocate the entire Ministry of National Defense main building within a short period." They also emphasized the need to ensure readiness conditions, stating, "It is necessary to guarantee readiness conditions considering the security environment during the regime change period and the schedule of joint exercises."

According to the 'Priority Allocation Plan for Available Space' attached to the briefing materials by the Ministry of National Defense on the same day, the departments located on the 10 floors of the Ministry of National Defense's new building under review would be dispersed and allocated to eight locations, including the JCS building and annex (old government building). The eight locations also include the Korea Meteorological Administration building. Regarding costs, they explained, "For priority allocation to available space, it is estimated that 11.8 billion KRW will be required, including moving expenses (3 billion KRW), information and communication infrastructure costs (5.5 billion KRW), and minimum facility maintenance costs (3.3 billion KRW)."

However, they added, "Funds will also be needed in the future to integrate the dispersed departments and ensure working conditions," and "the exact scale is under review." They further stated, "The initial relocation costs will be secured through contingency funds, and additional contingency funds or the next year's main budget will be considered after confirming the budget scale and timing for integration and reallocation."