Yoon President-elect to Spend 2.54195 Billion Won on Residence Remodeling

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] The government is scheduled to review and approve contingency funds for relocating President-elect Yoon Seok-yeol's office to Yongsan, drawing attention to the remodeling costs of the presidential residence.

According to a government official on the 5th, "The contingency funds to be reviewed and approved at the provisional Cabinet meeting on the 6th amount to 36,045,595,000 KRW, of which the Ministry of the Interior and Safety has allocated funds to remodel the Army Chief of Staff's residence in Hannam-dong."

The remodeling cost for the existing Army Chief of Staff's residence in Hannam-dong, which will be used as the presidential residence, is 2,541,955,000 KRW. The Ministry of National Defense owns a total of seven official residences, and the Army Chief of Staff's residence was built in 1975.

The Army Chief of Staff has a residence at Gyeryongdae in Chungnam, so there is no issue. It is known that the Army, Navy, and Air Force Chiefs of Staff use their Seoul residences about 10 days per month on average. Regarding the size of the three service chiefs' residences at Gyeryongdae, the Army's building area (total floor area) is 1,067㎡ with a land area of 32,000㎡; the Navy's building area (total floor area) is 720㎡ with a land area of 10,947㎡; and the Air Force's building area (total floor area) is 671㎡ with a land area of 1,947㎡.

In 2017, the Ministry of National Defense planned to abolish the Seoul residences of the Army, Navy, and Air Force Chiefs of Staff, the ROK-US Combined Forces Command Deputy Commander, and the Marine Corps Commandant, but the plan was not implemented due to strong opposition from each service branch. At that time, the Ministry considered constructing a new 'integrated residence' building next to the Defense Minister's residence in Hannam-dong instead of maintaining the Seoul residences of the three service chiefs, the Combined Forces Command Deputy Commander, and the Marine Corps Commandant.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.