President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol gives a press conference on the relocation of Cheong Wa Dae at his transition team’s headquarters in Seoul on March 20, 2022. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)
SEOUL, March 21 (Korea Bizwire) — About 280,000 people have signed an online petition on Cheong Wa Dae’s website to oppose President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol’s plan to relocate the presidential office, according to the website Monday.
The petition, posted Thursday, has garnered 279,581 signatures as of Monday morning. The government is obliged to reply when more than 200,000 people support a petition.
On Sunday, Yoon announced a decision to move the presidential office from Cheong Wa Dae to the defense ministry compound in Seoul’s central district of Yongsan, as he wants to move out of a “symbol of imperial power” and get closer to the people.
Under the decision, the defense ministry will be relocated to the Joint Chiefs of Staff building at the compound.
Critics say the relocation of the presidential office would hurt national security and cause unnecessary spending.
The petition criticized Yoon for “forcibly moving specialized facilities of the Ministry of National Defense, the last bastion of national security, for self-satisfaction.”
(Yonhap)
