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President Lee returns to Blue House in 'symbol of recovery and normalization'

Published: 29 Dec. 2025, 18:44 Updated: 29 Dec. 2025, 19:17

SARAH KIM
[email protected]

President Lee Jae Myung, center, flanked by senior aides, enters the main building of the Blue House compound in central Seoul on Dec. 29, starting his first official day of work after the relocation of the presidential office from Yongsan. [BLUE HOUSE]

President Lee Jae Myung began work at the Blue House in central Seoul on Monday, officially bringing the tumultuous Yongsan era — which became synonymous with last year’s botched martial law imposition — after 1,330 days.

Lee’s first day at the Blue House, also known by its Korean name Cheong Wa Dae for its blue roof tiles, included a commute to work, tea with aides, a tour of the crisis management center and a surprise visit to the presidential press center.

At midnight, the double phoenix flag was lowered at the Yongsan office and raised at the Blue House, the original presidential office before former President Yoon Suk Yeol relocated it to the Defense Ministry compound in Yongsan District, central Seoul.

A little after 9 a.m., Lee made his first commute to work at the Blue House from his presidential residence at Hannam-dong in Yongsan, driving in through the gates in a motorcade as supporters cheered and called out his name.

His first public activity at the Blue House after the presidential office move was a meeting over tea with senior aides, including National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac and Kim Yong-beom, presidential director of national policy. He later visited the National Crisis Management Center within the compound and was briefed on military readiness.

President Lee Jae Myung's motorcade enters the Blue House compound on Dec. 29 after the presidential office is relocated from the Yongsan complex. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

Lee was spotted wearing a red-and-blue striped tie, viewed as a symbol of political unity. He also wore it at his inauguration on June 4.

Blue House spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said in a press briefing later Monday that Lee’s necktie choice reflects his “will to prioritize a new start, communication and integration."

Later in the afternoon, Lee made an unscheduled visit to the Chunchugwan Hall, the press center within the Blue House compound, an annex building housing the presidential press corps.

Greeting reporters, Lee wished them “Happy New Year” and told them to make any suggestions “if there are any inconveniences” experienced with the move.

President Lee Jae Myung, center, holds a meeting with senior aides at the Blue House compound in central Seoul on Dec. 29, after the relocation of the presidential office. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

The return of the presidential office to the Blue House at the foot of Mount Bugak in northern Gwanghwamun comes three years and seven months after former President Moon Jae-in retired and the Yoon Suk Yeol administration opened at the Yongsan complex.

At the time, the relocation was described as a means to make the top office less isolated and more approachable to the public and press, and also open the Blue House to the public, though some whispered of bad geomancy. And in keeping with this promise, the Blue House premises were opened to the public with the start of Yoon’s short-lived presidency on May 10, 2022.

This opening to the public, in turn, delayed Lee’s pledge to relocate the top office back to the Blue House after he took office on June 3, due to security and logistical issues, leading him to work out of Yongsan for the first half year of his presidency.

It was at Yongsan that President Yoon declared his six-hour martial law on the night of Dec. 3, 2024, a fateful move that led to his arrest and ouster, as well as the arrest of his defense minister, Kim Yong-hyun. Critics say the physical proximity of the presidential office and the Defense Ministry only facilitated the ill-conceived plan.

Kang Hoon-sik, the presidential chief of staff, in an interview with the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation YouTube channel on Sunday, described the return to the Blue House as “a symbol of recovery and normalization."

The phoenix flag, symbolizing the presidency, is raised at the Blue House in central Seoul on Dec. 29, officially ending the Yongsan era after three years and seven months. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

The Blue House, despite the relocation of the top office, has continued to be used for meetings, large-scale official events, major press conferences and summits. The Yongsan presidential office, in turn, never received a formal name and was known as the Office of the President after a shortlist of proposed names fell through early in the Yoon administration.

Rather than the isolated, distant presidential office in the main building, Lee will maintain his office in the Yeomingwan Hall, an annex that houses senior aides and staff, for closer communication through proximity.

Spokesperson Kang said that Lee working out of the Yeomingwan Hall, traditionally housing the presidential secretariat, embodies his “philosophy of a government based on popular sovereignty that will run state affairs together with the people” and a will to show a “smooth decision-making” process through meetings centered on the senior presidential secretaries.

Despite the move, Lee is expected to continue commuting from the presidential residence in Hannam-dong for the time being, until the renovation of the residence in the Blue House compound is completed, likely in the first half of next year.

Kang said through the return, Lee plans to demonstrate his government’s sense of “pragmatism” by “advocating a working government with transparent processes, restoring politics that communicates with the people and becoming the center of foreign affairs and security sought by the world.”

BY SARAH KIM [[email protected]]