[INTERVIEW] Ex-lawmaker backs presidential relocation to Yongsan

Cheong Wa Dae will be disappeared from history as President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol unveiled a plan on Sunday to relocate the presidential office into Yongsan, Seoul. / Yonhap

By Kang Hyun-kyung

Former lawmaker Kim Young-woo / Courtesy of Kim Young-woo

Kim Young-woo, 55, a former three-term lawmaker who served as the chairman of the National Assembly's National Defense Committee, presented a favorable view of the proposed relocation of the presidential office to the Ministry of National Defense compound amid heated debate.

If implemented as planned, Kim said the nation might benefit from moving to the site in Yongsan District.

"Considering the unique security challenges facing the nation, I think the new President working in a space adjacent to the office of the defense minister could be effective," he told The Korea Times over the phone.

His remarks about the unique security challenges refer to how South Koreans are living with increasing threats from North Korea.

Kim, however, warned of the possible fallout from a hasty relocation, saying that policymakers need to implement it with a thorough plan, after careful consideration of all related factors and risks it could entail.

"Someone (referring to the President-elect's spokesperson Kim Eun-hye) said that the relocation will be done 'before the spring flowers fall.' If they push it through on such a short timeline, significant procedural flaws will be unavoidable. I think they don't need to rush," he said.

The relocation of the presidential office and residence has emerged as one of the hotly debated post-election issues, as President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol reiterated that he has no intention to live and work in the current site, located in Jongno District behind Gyeongbok Palace at the foot of a mountain. Last Wednesday, spokesperson Kim told reporters that the chances of the new President beginning his work in the current Cheong Wa Dae are "zero."

On Sunday, Yoon unveiled a plan to relocate the presidential office and residence to Yongsan District, which would require the defense ministry to relocate to the current site of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff to be relocated in turn elsewhere.

Despite the President-elect's strong will to find an alternative location for the presidential office and residence, the relocation plan has faced criticism from the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK).

In a statement, DPK chief spokesperson Koh Yong-jin called the relocation plan hasty, chaotic and contradictory. "It is highly doubtful that the Ministry of National Defense site is really a suitable place for public communication," he said, reproaching the President-elect's procedure for moving forward as unilateral.

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But ex-lawmaker Kim did not see it that way. He said the relocation could help the new President work more effectively as commander-in-chief as the location will make it easier for him to work closely with the defense minister in case of contingency.

He urged President Moon and the ruling DPK to support the relocation.

"President Moon had wanted to end the era for Cheong Wa Dae, but he couldn't do it. Then, isn't it right for him to help the new president finish the job?" he asked, referring to the Moon's 2017 pledge to move the presidential office and residence to Gwanghwamun.

Kim seemed mindful of a shift in South Korea's security environment following a series of tests of North Korea's increasingly sophisticated missile and nuclear capabilities.

Last week, President-elect Yoon named former Vice Foreign Minister Kim Sung-han, former presidential secretary on national security strategy Kim Tae-hyo, and Gen. Lee Jong-sup, former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as the transition committee members to handle foreign policy and security. The media dubbed Yoon's picks of the three as "the Return of the MB men." "MB" stands for the first name of the conservative former President Lee Myung-bak. The three all served under the Lee administration.

Kim said that Yoon and his foreign policy team will be working under fresh pressure to thwart security threats from North Korea, mainly because there have been significant changes in North Korea's military capabilities since the 2008-13 Lee Myung-bak administration.

Kim said the foreign policy team under the Yoon government will need to bolster the South Korea-U.S. alliance as stressed by the President-elect several times during his campaign, as well as restore close ties with "like-minded countries" such as free democracies to better handle security threats posed by North Korea.

Joining the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, known as the Quad, is one of the options the new government should consider seriously, he said.

The Quad is a United States-led strategic security dialogue among three countries in the Indo―Pacific region ― Australia, India, and Japan ― and is maintained by talks between member countries.

Kim's remarks on joining the Quad seem to refer to formalizing South Korea's membership in the Quad Plus, a broader network of like-minded countries in the Indo-Pacific region. Some of the countries that have been named for the Quad Plus are South Korea, New Zealand and Vietnam.

"The Quad members are countries that share a lot of values with South Korea. They are free democracies and value human rights, so having partnerships with those countries would help the nation gain support from them in a time of crisis," Kim said.

The former lawmaker said emphasized the significance of forging new security partnerships with like-minded countries, in light of what's happening in Ukraine.

Kim claimed that Ukraine is in a lonely fight to protect itself from Russian invasion, partly because the East European country had no official security alliance with other countries. "Many countries are cheering for Ukraine, but few countries give them real help other than diplomatic rhetoric," he said.

Regarding the limited roles of the United States and European countries in helping war-torn Ukraine, U.S. President Joe Biden explained that third countries' direct involvement in the confrontation could trigger World War III and that the expansion of the war is one reason the U.S. government cannot send troops to Ukraine.