"Stop Wasting National Taxes"... Over 500,000 Sign 청원 Against Yoon's Office Relocation

President Moon: "The Office Relocation Is a Matter for the Next Administration"

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol is entering the 20th Presidential Transition Committee set up at the Financial Supervisory Service Training Institute in Tongui-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, on the morning of the 1st.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Midam] President-elect Yoon Seok-yeol has announced plans to relocate the presidential office from the Blue House to the Yongsan Ministry of National Defense building. Meanwhile, a petition opposing this move has garnered support from over 500,000 people.

On the 17th of last month, a petition titled "Please prevent the forced relocation of the Ministry of National Defense, the nation's security core, to create President-elect Yoon's office, which wastes thousands of billions of taxpayers' money" was posted on the Blue House National Petition Board. As of 10:50 AM on the 1st, this petition had received approximately 504,050 signatures.

The petitioner stated, "President-elect Yoon is forcibly relocating the Ministry of National Defense, which is optimized as the last bastion and core of national security, along with its specialized facilities and systems, just to create his own office for personal satisfaction."

They continued, "This endangers the national security of the Republic of Korea and causes enormous waste of public funds, so we strongly condemn it," adding, "We earnestly petition the National Assembly to prevent the unilateral and forced relocation of the Ministry of National Defense."

Photo by Blue House, screenshot of the National Petition Board.

The petitioner criticized, "There is no legitimate reason or justification for President-elect Yoon's personal desire to dismantle the special facilities and specialized systems responsible for national security and rebuild them elsewhere. As a citizen, I absolutely cannot accept this," and added, "The presidential term is at most five years. Spending thousands of billions of won of taxpayers' blood and sweat on President-elect Yoon's office during this five-year term is something the public cannot agree to."

Furthermore, the petitioner emphasized, "The president-elect should find an empty building or renovate facilities within the Blue House, seeking methods that do not directly harm the lives of the people," and stressed, "We strongly demand an immediate halt to this arrogant decision that endangers public safety, wastes taxpayers' money, and disrupts citizens' daily lives for five years."

The Blue House has previously issued official statements on petitions with over 200,000 signatures. However, it has not yet responded to this particular issue.

It is reported that former President Moon Jae-in expressed willingness to cooperate on budget matters related to the presidential office relocation during a dinner meeting with President-elect Yoon.

Jang Je-won, chief of staff to the president-elect, stated in a briefing after the dinner meeting between President Moon and President-elect Yoon on the afternoon of the 28th of last month, "The topic of relocating the presidential office to Yongsan naturally came up," and added, "President Moon said, 'I believe the decision on the relocation site is the responsibility of the next government, and the current government will carefully review the budget according to the precise relocation plan and cooperate accordingly.'"