As soon as President-elect Yoon Seok-yeol takes office on May 10, it is expected that he will be able to start working in a new office at the Yongsan Ministry of National Defense Building.
At the extraordinary cabinet meeting yesterday (6th), the transition committee judges that major facilities, including the presidential office, will be able to prepare for move-in in time for the inauguration date.
An official of the transition committee said in a briefing this morning, "President Yoon Seok-yeol will begin his presidency without a security gap on the day the new government is inaugurated and his duties begin on May 10."
The official said, "I see the core essence of the relocation of the presidential office in two ways." "Will the so-called 'bunkers' that do not create a security gap, and the crisis management center, will be complete?" Shall we start?” he added, adding that he believes that both conditions will be met before May 10.
However, as the Ministry of National Defense has postponed the move of the 1st to 4th floors of the main building after the main training schedule for the Korea-US combined exercise in the first half of this month (from the 18th to the 28th of this month), the space where President-elect Yoon will start work on the day of his inauguration is likely to be the 'admission office'.
According to President-elect Yoon's plan to utilize the government office, it is known that key facilities such as President-elect Yoon's office, secretary's office, press room, spokesperson's office, and bodyguards will be placed on the first to fourth floors of the current Ministry of National Defense main building.
The 4th and 5th floors will be the aides offices, and the 6th and above will be the public-private joint committee.
Direct expenses for building the office were not included in the preliminary expenses bill that was voted on yesterday.
We allocated 11.6 billion won to first build facilities essential for security, such as a crisis management center and general security control room, 11.8 billion won to relocate to the Ministry of National Defense, and 10.1 billion won to general office construction costs and computerized service systems.
As a result, it is possible to start moving from the 5th to 10th floors first, and there is an observation that there is a high possibility that the office will be temporarily set up on one of these 5 floors.
Regarding the presidential office, this official said, "There are rumors of setting up a tent, outside rumors, and all sorts of stories, but we are preparing everything such as Plan B and Plan C to prevent that." I start my work with my work as a starting point. We ask for your understanding for the fact that we cannot reveal the details on which floor and how we will do it.”
Regarding the standard of 'complete crisis management center' directly related to the security gap, the transition committee said, "There is a military tactical control system called C4I (command and control system), which is currently in the Blue House but not in the Ministry of National Defense, disaster and disaster connection system, firefighting and police. All of this has to be connected,” he emphasized.
Nevertheless, regarding the situation in which there are mixed expectations that the move-in may be delayed after June, "If the last person in the secretary's office closes the door and enters the 'completion of move-in', that point is also correct. It could be delayed due to lack of time, and it could move on to June.
The transition committee said, "Of course, it will be done partially and in stages," he said, saying, "It will be done partially and in stages", saying that it is difficult for the entire office in the Ministry of National Defense to move out within the deadline.
Jang Je-won, the elected chief of staff, also met with reporters in front of the Tongui-dong office and confirmed the move-in schedule in Yongsan, saying, "I heard from working-level officials that the president and a minimum of staff will do their best to work on May 10."
In this regard, when asked about the situation of cooperation with the current government, he said, "Didn't the Blue House say several times that cooperation is going well? Did they even hold an extraordinary cabinet meeting yesterday and let (reserve) pass? We are cooperating like that,” he reiterated, “there is no major problem.”
Director Jang said that the new government is strongly considering a plan to name it the 'Yun Seok-Yeol government' rather than a separate name.
Director Jang said, "When you say Yoon Seok-yeol, it means fairness, common sense, and justice, isn't it?" He said, "I am thinking about what words can be said about the direction our government is going to more clearly than the word Yun Seok-yeol. , but nothing has been decided yet, but many transition committee members think that it will go to the 'Yun Seok-Yeol government'."
(Photo = Insuui Photo Reporters Group, Yonhap News)