Yoon Likely to Use Foreign Minister's Residence as New Official Residence...Commutes from Seocho-dong Home Early in Term

The area near the official residences in Hannam-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, where multiple diplomatic residences are located [Image source=Yonhap News]

The plan to use the Army Chief of Staff's official residence as the new presidential residence for President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol has been scrapped due to the facility's aging issues. As a new candidate for the residence, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Minister's official residence in Hannam-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, is being seriously considered.

A representative from the Presidential Transition Committee said on the 20th at the transition office in Tongui-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, when asked by reporters whether the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Minister's official residence is being considered as the presidential residence, "We see it as the most reasonable alternative and have begun reviewing it."

President-elect Yoon announced on the 20th of last month a plan to relocate the presidential office to the Ministry of National Defense in Yongsan and use the Army Chief of Staff's official residence as the presidential residence, but this plan was ultimately scrapped. The official explained, "That place was built in 1975 and is too old, and many unreasonable aspects were comprehensively found."

Currently, in Hannam-dong, there are official residences for the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and National Defense, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Army Chief of Staff, the Marine Corps Commander, and the Deputy Commander of the ROK-US Combined Forces Command, among which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Minister's official residence is known to be the most likely candidate. Choi Ji-hyun, the senior deputy spokesperson for the transition committee, also said at a briefing in the afternoon, "After comprehensively reviewing security, protocol, remodeling period, and costs, it was confirmed that the Army Chief of Staff's official residence has many unreasonable aspects, so we started considering the Foreign Minister's official residence as an alternative and are also reviewing other options."

However, since the current Minister of Foreign Affairs is using the official residence, even if this place is chosen as President-elect Yoon's new residence, it is expected to be difficult to move in immediately after the inauguration. Won Il-hee, senior deputy spokesperson for the transition committee, said, "Even if the Foreign Minister's official residence is finally decided as the residence, it is a reasonable inference that moving in immediately by the May 10 inauguration ceremony would be difficult." Therefore, it is expected that President-elect Yoon will commute from his home in Seocho-dong to the office for some time after the inauguration. There is also discussion about using the Marine Corps Commander's residence in Hannam-dong as the security office.

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