[Inside Chodong] The Yongsan Era: All Affairs of Yoon

President Yoon Suk-yeol is taking the oath of office at the inauguration ceremony of the 20th president held at the National Assembly on the 10th. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] "It's unbelievable."

At the recent South Korea-US summit, President Joe Biden repeatedly said "Unbelievable" in response to President Yoon Suk-yeol's remark that the Yongsan Presidential Office was completed in just ten days. This marked the moment when earlier concerns about the new government, which had only been in office for ten days and had hastily invited heads of state-level foreign guests to the Yongsan building that was not yet fully completed, began to subside.

Since the inauguration committee announced the sudden move of the presidential office to Yongsan right after its launch in March during the president-elect period, evaluations of this self-imposed constraint have also started to change. The abrupt and forced relocation, which had lowered expectations for the new government in various opinion polls, has now been overshadowed by the promise to "return the Blue House to the people," and no longer hinders progress.

Meanwhile, Yongsan hosted the "diplomatic stage debut" of President Yoon with the South Korea-US summit. Considering that Yongsan was formerly a US military base and symbolized the South Korea-US alliance, this represents overcoming both security and diplomatic crises at once.

President Yoon's life in Yongsan, who declared he would not work in the Blue House style that symbolized the imperial presidency with the phrase "space dominates consciousness," shows a clear difference from previous presidents. Although not grandiose, the door stepping?brief exchanges with the president while waiting for key figures to enter or exit?is a representative example. Despite the burden of having his arrival time checked daily, President Yoon has not yet shown any resistance.

His new political approach is also refreshing. On the day of his inauguration, he greeted citizens with fist bumps, and during his first policy speech at the National Assembly, he personally shook hands with members of the Democratic Party and the Justice Party as he walked around the chamber. At the subsequent May 18 Democratic Uprising memorial ceremony, he became the first conservative president to sing the "March for the Beloved" from start to finish. Amidst this, he managed the economic crisis caused by global austerity and Russia's invasion of Ukraine and successfully held the South Korea-US summit, shedding the stigma of an "amateur government."

However, evaluations of the cabinet formation still fall short of expectations. Although 16 out of 18 ministers have taken office and only two were rejected, which could be read as a "not bad success rate," the emphasis on meritocracy has clearly failed to balance diversity. The expected deputy minister appointments were no different. Following the Lee Myung-bak administration's "Goso-Young" (Korea University, Somang Church, Yeongnam), Park Geun-hye administration's "Sung Si-kyung" (Sungkyunkwan University, bar exam, Kyunggi High School), and Moon Jae-in administration's "Camcorder" (campaign camp, code personnel, Democratic Party) cabinets, the Yoon administration has adopted a new pattern called "Seo-O-Nam" (Seoul National University, 50s, male).

Evaluations of the new government's initial cabinet can be made within as short as one year. It will become clear whether the appointments were merely recycled experienced officials from previous governments to find experts or whether they have sufficiently demonstrated their abilities to support state administration. This will also mark the end of the honeymoon period shared with the opposition and the public, sharpening public scrutiny of the government. It will determine whether the current government, born from the previous administration's double standards and unfairness, is treading the path of another dysfunction.

The dam of public sentiment breaks in an instant. Even if not all citizens enjoy happiness through cooperation and communication over five years, causing further injustice and contradictions in fairness and reality is nothing short of a disaster now.

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