{"id":2196036,"date":"2022-05-09T20:06:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-09T11:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nknews.org\/pro\/?p=2196036"},"modified":"2023-04-05T16:12:25","modified_gmt":"2023-04-05T07:12:25","slug":"moving-south-koreas-presidential-office-is-a-step-in-the-wrong-direction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2022\/05\/moving-south-koreas-presidential-office-is-a-step-in-the-wrong-direction\/","title":{"rendered":"Moving South Korea\u2019s presidential office is a step in the wrong direction"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a prosecutor, Yoon Seok-Yeol was very good at his job. Perhaps even a little too good, given how uncomfortable he made politicians with his steadfast refusal to consider any wider implications outside his own personal preferences.<\/span><\/p>\n

But as a public figure, Yoon has been more or less a cipher. When Moon Jae-in appointed him prosecutor general in 2017, very few people had ever heard his voice in public. Now, Yoon will deliver his inaugural address as President of the Republic of Korea on Tuesday.<\/span><\/p>\n

Naturally, all eyes have been on his transition committee, searching for clues as to how this political outsider may govern. If his plan to move his offices out of the Blue House and into the Ministry of National Defense\u2019s complex in Yongsan is any indication, it appears that the answer to that question is: \u201cnot particularly well.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

South Korean President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol holds a candle during a ceremony at Seoul’s Jogyesa Temple to celebrate Buddha’s Birthday, May 8, 2022 | Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism<\/a> (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0<\/a>)<\/p><\/div>\n

In the abstract, there are merits to moving out of the Blue House. It\u2019s unfitting for South Korea\u2019s democratically-elected leaders to govern from the same building where authoritarians like Park Chung-Hee and Chun Doo-Hwan orchestrated unspeakable atrocities against the South Korean people. Even today, Seoul\u2019s executive office sucks away power from other parts of government like an insatiable imperial vortex.<\/p>\n

Moving out of the Blue House \u2013 literally a secluded mountain palace \u2013 to a downtown, underdeveloped part of Seoul could send an important symbolic message.<\/p>\n

The problem is not necessarily the goal, but the execution. Yoon does not envision some multi-year renovation and gradual transition; he is set to govern from his new office \u2013 whatever state it happens to be in \u2013 from day one. Choosing the Defense Ministry building, a modest structure on a walled-off military base, reflects Yoon\u2019s desperation to find a location that is technically \u201ccloser to the people\u201d but also inaccessible enough that it can be cordoned off and prepared for his arrival on very short notice.<\/p>\n

Forgotten in the rushed initial announcement were simple logical necessities: Where would the people tasked with managing the world\u2019s tenth-largest military work after being suddenly kicked out of their offices? How would the president commute amidst gridlocked Seoul traffic? How would Yoon host and entertain foreign leaders from an austere military facility where a mess hall serving surprisingly good <\/span>jajangmyun<\/span><\/i> remains the best available dining option?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Yoon\u2019s team simply doesn\u2019t seem to care how many corners they have to cut so long as the incoming president gets what he wants, when he wants.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

IMPERIAL PRESIDENCY REDUX?<\/b><\/p>\n

In his clumsy attempt to bring down the imperial presidency, Yoon is demonstrating why he is precisely the wrong man to do so. It\u2019s hard to believe that someone who thinks he has the authority to evict an entire government ministry before taking office will be particularly amenable to the separation of powers afterward. It\u2019s equally hard to trust someone whose first act after winning a presidential election is to light South Korea\u2019s entire national security apparatus on fire.<\/span><\/p>\n

These are not first steps that suggest baseline competence to execute a fundamental reorganization of the Republic\u2019s power structures.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps most troubling of all is the lack of self-awareness. These are far from halcyon days for South Korea. The country may have been spared the worst of the pandemic, but two years of COVID-19 pandemic controls have <\/span>fundamentally altered<\/span><\/a> the economy for the worse. Innumerable challenges, foreign and domestic, loom on the horizon \u2013 including a hostile <\/span>nuclear power<\/span><\/a> emboldened by years of ineffectual management by Yoon\u2019s predecessor.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The public is looking for reassuring, pragmatic leadership. There will be little patience for yet another self-aggrandizing leader who places symbolic gestures and legacy-building photo ops ahead of the toil of competent governance.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In some respects, poor policy is far less dispiriting than good policy poorly executed. The former can be written off as an isolated lapse in decision-making. The latter evinces something fundamentally wrong with the dynamics of the new administration.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

A South Korean honor guard puts on a show near the Blue House, May 2017 | Image: Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism<\/a> (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0<\/a>)<\/p><\/div>\n

The lobby of Seoul\u2019s Ministry of National Defense is decorated with dozens of bronze busts of Korea\u2019s greatest generals. Among them are some of the most universally revered names known to the Korean people \u2013 Lee Soon Shin, Eulji Mundeok, Kim Jwa Jin. But before President Yoon sets off on his first morning commute tomorrow, these icons will be unceremoniously loaded into the back of a truck and carted off to parts unknown.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This is South Korea, after all, and even the greatest warriors of our history are helpless to stand up to the irresistible whims of the imperial presidency.<\/span><\/p>\n

Edited by Arius Derr<\/em><\/p>\n

Domestic Politics<\/span><\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a prosecutor, Yoon Seok-Yeol was very good at his job. Perhaps even a little too good, given how uncomfortable he made politicians with his steadfast refusal to consider any wider implications outside his own personal preferences. But as a public figure, Yoon has been more or less a cipher. When Moon Jae-in appointed him […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7824,"featured_media":2196037,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[27],"class_list":["post-2196036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-analysis","tag-domestic-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nMoving South Korea\u2019s presidential office is a step in the wrong direction - KOREA PRO<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2022\/05\/moving-south-koreas-presidential-office-is-a-step-in-the-wrong-direction\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Moving South Korea\u2019s presidential office is a step in the wrong direction - KOREA PRO\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As a prosecutor, Yoon Seok-Yeol was very good at his job. 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