Yoon Suk-yeol campaigned on reducing the size of the Presidential office and it appears moving it out of the Blue House to possibly the Defense Ministry compound is how he plans to do this:
The defense ministry compound in Yongsan, central Seoul, has emerged as a new candidate to host the incoming Yoon Suk-yeol government’s presidential office, officials close to the president-elect said Tuesday.
Yoon is pushing for the dismantling of Cheong Wa Dae, a secluded compound of the current presidential office and residence, and its relocation to the Seoul Government Complex in Gwanghwamun Square at the heart of the capital in accordance with his campaign pledges to depart from imperial presidency and better communicate with people and the press.
But critics have raised concern that Gwanghwamun, a busy downtown area, is unfit as the venue of the presidential office and its supplementary facilities due to security and other reasons.
Yoon is now actively considering relocating Cheong Wa Dae, also known as the Blue House, to Yongsan’s defense ministry compound due to its potential advantages in security management, according to the officials.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link, but the article states the Defense Ministry has enough office space to accommodate the amount of Presidential office employees Yoon plans to bring over. If this happens this will be a big win for the ROK military which will have easier access to the incoming Yoon administration.
It is likely that North Korea is going to use their space program as cover to test ICBMs:
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has reportedly ordered the expansion and modernization of a satellite launch site capable of launching intercontinental ballistic missiles(ICBMs).
According to the North’s official Korean Central News Agency on Friday, Kim issued the order during his visit to the Sohae Satellite Launching Ground.
The satellite launch site can be used to launch long-range rockets including the ICBMs.
Kim reportedly inspected the site and ordered modernizing and expanding it to ensure that “various rockets could be launched to carry multi-purpose satellites, including a military reconnaissance satellite.”
KBS World
You can read more at the link.
It will be interesting to see if President Elect Yoon moves forward with this campaign promise or not because he will get huge push back from not only protesters, but likely from the media as well:
Women’s rights activists called on President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol to withdraw his campaign pledge to close down the Ministry of Gender, Equality, and Family.
Meanwhile, Yoon reconfirmed his intent to keep the campaign promise, Sunday, as he said the ministry “has fulfilled its historical calling.”
On the future of the ministry, Yoon said, “We should plan a more effective government branch to deal with injustice, human rights violations, and protection of people’s rights more effectively.
Korea Times
You can read more at the link.
It will be interesting to see if under her leadership she is able to make Naver a global IT brand:
Naver will become an incubator that creates innovative technology penetrating the global market and seek to go beyond providing services that are popular today, the company’s new CEO said Monday.
“Not only all businesses owned by Naver began with the thought of going global from the start, but all of the objectives also point to going global,” Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon said at a meeting with shareholders and board of directors where she was appointed as the new chief.
The IT giant will focus all of its management efforts on becoming a global top-tier internet company, it added.
The appointment of the 41-year-old female executive marks a major shift in its management, the company said. Choi is the youngest CEO to lead Naver, South Korea’s fourth-largest company by market capitalization. Having Choi as CEO signifies that the management will be led by the younger generation who grew up with the internet, and no longer by those who pursued evolution of the platform businesses.
Korea Herald
You can read more at the link.
This should be a very interesting meeting considering how much Moon and Yoon reportedly dislike each other:
President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol is likely to ask President Moon Jae-in to grant a special pardon to jailed former President Lee Myung-bak when they hold a meeting this week, a senior official close to Yoon said Monday.
Moon and Yoon are scheduled to meet at the presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae on Wednesday, according to political sources.
They will discuss a range of issues, including government transition, coronavirus responses and North Korea’s likely long-range missile test, during the meeting, which will be their first since June 2020, when Yoon was prosecutor general, they said.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link, but it is probably going to be a tough sell to pardon Lee Myung-bak who the Korean left despises for investigating former president Roh Moo-hyun. The investigation uncovered corruption around Roh who ended up committing suicide. The Korean left has long blamed Lee for the suicide and investigating him and putting him in jail was a form of payback.
Remember when the Korean government said that they would not ditch their “Living with COVID” strategy even if case rates went over 10,000? Before the case rates could even hit 10,000 the Moon administration implemented COVID restrictions once again. It seems like a long time ago, but this all only happened back in December. Now that it is March it is clear that the COVID restrictions did not work as case rates have hit a new record of 383,664:
South Korea’s daily COVID-19 cases stayed above 350,000 for the second straight day Sunday as the country is grappling with the fast spread of the omicron variant.
The country reported 350,190 new COVID-19 infections, including 350,157 local cases, raising the total caseload to 6,556,453, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).
The tally fell from an all-time high of 383,664 on Saturday due largely to less testing on the weekend.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
