On the afternoon of the 26th, a sign promoting the opening of the Blue House is hung on the wall of a store on Myeongdong Street in Seoul. [Image source=Yonhap News]
More than 10,000 people have participated in the naming contest for the new presidential office of the 'Yoon Suk-yeol administration.'
The Presidential Transition Committee announced on the 27th that the number of participants in the 'Presidential Office Name National Contest,' organized by the Blue House Relocation Task Force (TF), surpassed 10,000 as of the 26th. This was achieved just 11 days after the contest began.
According to the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, which operates the National Idea Platform, this is the fastest time to reach 10,000 participants among all contests held since the platform's launch in 2016.
The Transition Committee explained, "When the contest ends on the 15th of next month, it is expected to be recorded as the contest with the highest number of participants."
Among the proposals received so far, many have used the character 'Min (民),' meaning 'people,' either as the first or middle character, and many have used 'Dae (臺)' or 'Gwan (館)' as the last character, similar to the existing Blue House or the White House.
Earlier, President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol announced on the 20th of last month that the presidential office would be relocated from the existing Blue House to the Yongsan Ministry of National Defense and that the new presidential office name would be selected through a national contest.
The contest will run until the 15th of next month, and the winning entry is scheduled to be announced in early June. The selection process will be conducted by a panel of judges including experts such as historians, Korean language scholars, architects, and a national jury representing various sectors of society.
The prize money totals 12 million KRW, including 6 million KRW for the grand prize. Once the winning name is selected, the name 'Cheongwadae' (Blue House) will disappear into history.
Yoon Han-hong, team leader of the Blue House Relocation TF, said, "We hope that many more fresh ideas and proposals that fully reflect the public's expectations will be submitted."
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