Presidential Office 'Yongsan Relocation' Gains Momentum... '36 Billion Won' Reserve Fund Approved at Cabinet Meeting

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Son Seon-hee] The supplementary budget proposal for relocating the presidential office to Yongsan passed the Cabinet meeting on the 6th. This came 17 days after President-elect Yoon Seok-yeol personally announced last month that he would "place the office in Yongsan." With this, the historic first "Yongsan era of the presidential office" is set to gain full momentum.

On the morning of the same day, the government held an extraordinary Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum and deliberated on the supplementary budget proposal totaling 36 billion KRW. The proposal included 17.6 billion KRW under the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, 11.8 billion KRW under the Ministry of National Defense, and 6.6 billion KRW under the Presidential Security Service. The Ministry of Economy and Finance reported that they agreed to gradually relocate related facilities in close consultation with the Presidential Transition Committee.

The government plans to prioritize the establishment of essential security facilities such as the Crisis Management Center and the Comprehensive Security Situation Room to ensure there are no security gaps. This will involve an investment of 11.6 billion KRW from the supplementary budget.

Regarding the relocation of the Ministry of National Defense’s command offices and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, which was a contentious issue until the last moment, the costs will be allocated first, but the timing of the move will be coordinated to proceed only after the essential security facilities are completed. Considering the need to contract the moving expenses in bulk, the entire 11.8 billion KRW for the Ministry of National Defense’s relocation costs was allocated in this supplementary budget.

Additionally, 10.1 billion KRW was allocated for general office construction costs and computer service systems. A budget of 2.5 billion KRW will also be invested in remodeling the current Army Chief of Staff’s official residence, which will be used as the presidential residence.

Additional expenses such as the creation of the presidential office and the relocation of the Security Service will be discussed later, taking into account the status of security facility construction like the Crisis Management Center and the scheduled end of the Korea-U.S. Combined Command Post Exercise at the end of this month. The Ministry of Economy and Finance stated, "We plan to cooperate as much as possible to ensure the smooth progress of the new government’s presidential office relocation."

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