Cheong Wa Dae reinstated as presidential office after 1,330 days

President Lee Jae Myung (center) holds a meeting with his aides over tea in the main hall of the Cheong Wa Dae presidential compound on Monday. (Yonhap)

President Lee Jae Myung on Monday made his first commute to Cheong Wa Dae after the official completion of the presidential office's relocation back to the historic compound.

The relocation allowed the Lee administration to "restore (Cheong Wa Dae's) historical and symbolic significance," presidential office spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said Monday.

Passing the main gate at around 9:10 a.m. through his motorcade, Lee held a brief meeting with his aides in the main hall of Cheong Wa Dae, also known as the Blue House.

Among those attending the closed-door meeting were Wi Sung-lac, director of national security, and Kim Yong-beom, chief secretary of national policy, according to the presidential office.

Kang Hoon-sik, who serves as presidential chief of staff, was absent from the meeting. Later on Monday, Cheong Wa Dae issued a note to the press corps that Kang has been on a trip since Sunday as Lee's special envoy to undisclosed foreign countries with strategic and economic ties to South Korea.

In a closed-door meeting that lasted longer than an hour, Lee asked his secretaries to foster shared economic growth in the country and raise public awareness about the recent reduction in losses from phishing scams.

Lee also visited the National Crisis Management Center inside the compound to inspect the national defense readiness posture and the national disaster response system. Lee thanked Cheong Wa Dae staff for keeping the center operational during the renovation work, according to Lee's office.

Lee later stopped by Chunchugwan, a building used by the presidential press corps, on Monday afternoon.

Spokesperson Kang said the first document Lee signed at Cheong Wa Dae was the formal diplomatic consent to receive Benin's ambassador to South Korea, who doubles as his country's ambassador to China.

In the early hours of Monday, the presidential flag, depicting two phoenixes and a rose of Sharon, was hoisted at Cheong Wa Dae. The name of the presidential office also reverted to Cheong Wa Dae with Lee's first commute Monday.

Former President Yoon Suk Yeol moved the presidential office to the headquarters of the Ministry of National Defense in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, upon his inauguration in May 2022, leaving behind the compound in Seoul's Jongno-gu that had been home to the presidency since 1948.

Since taking office in June this year, Lee has pushed ahead with the relocation back to Cheong Wa Dae. The Lee administration also seeks to build a new presidential office in Sejong, the de facto administrative capital, by the first half of 2030.

Vu Van Sung (right), father of Vu Tu Anh, a Vietnamese woman who died during an immigration enforcement raid, holds a protest calling for a halt to such immigration crackdowns in front of Cheong Wa Dae on Monday. (Yonhap)

The return of the presidential office to the compound was accompanied by protests and gatherings.

Scores of Lee supporters gathered near Cheong Wa Dae's main gate to welcome the president, while some others moved their ongoing protests from Yongsan to near the Cheong Wa Dae complex.

Among them were some 50 maintenance staff at the tourist area inside Cheong Wa Dae who conducted a "three steps, one bow" ritual and marched toward the compound while calling for job security.

Some 200 contracted workers are on the verge of losing their jobs as tourist access to Cheong Wa Dae will become limited after its expected resumption next year. General tourist access to Cheong Wa Dae as a cultural site was discontinued in August.

Another group of protesters -- including the bereaved family of Vu Tu Anh, a Vietnamese woman who died during an immigration enforcement raid -- demanded the government apologize and immediately halt such crackdowns on illegal foreign workers.

Moreover, members of South Korea's largest umbrella union, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, protested a revision to the enforcement decree of the Trade Union Act, enacted through the so-called "Yellow Envelope" bill, claiming it would water down the pro-labor legislation.

Meanwhile, a bill has been introduced with bipartisan support to ban gatherings within a 100-meter radius of the president's workspace.

Kwon Young-gook, leader of the minor left-wing Justice Party, said in a statement that the legislation could "repeat the history of Cheong Wa Dae effectively becoming a secret palace."