Return to Cheong Wa Dae

President Lee Jae Myung is scheduled to return to the blue tile-roofed presidential office in Cheong Wa Dae on Dec. 29, ending the three years and seven months of the “Yongsan era” implemented under the previous administration. Former President Yoon Suk Yeol, breaking with the decades-old tradition of using Cheong Wa Dae as the presidential office and residence, announced and implemented the relocation of the presidential office to Yongsan in central Seoul. Yoon justified the move, explaining that he wanted to sever ties with a location long associated with an "imperial presidency" and to "strengthen communication with the people." He claimed Cheong Wa Dae had come to be seen as a "royal palace," where the nation’s chief executives could insulate themselves from opposing views and life on the streets. The public may have expected that the president, a political novice but former chief prosecutor-general, would introduce his own more open style of presidential leadership. However, Yoon’s governance took a different turn, as he became increasingly unilateral in both communicating