Curfew on road to Cheong Wa Dae to be removed
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Bicycle riders look at the road in front of Cheong Wa Dae, Thursday. The presidential office plans to open the road to the public 24 hours a day beginning June 26, while it used to be blocked from 8 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. for security reasons. / Yonhap
By Kim Rahn
The road in front of Cheong Wa Dae will be open to the public 24 hours a day beginning June 26, the presidential office said Thursday.
Cars and pedestrians will be allowed to use the road, which runs between Cheong Wa Dae and the back of Gyeongbok Palace. It stretches between the presidential press center of Chunchugwan near Samcheong-dong and the plaza with a fountain in Seochon, allowing easy access between Bukchon and Seochon.
Public access to the road was restricted in January 1968 after armed North Korean commandos infiltrated Seoul to assassinate then-President Park Chung-hee, coming near Cheong Wa Dae. In 1993, then President Kim Young-sam partially lifted the ban but it still was blocked from 8 p.m. to 5:30 a.m.
“As the person in charge of presidential security, I apologize to citizens for having caused this inconvenience, and express my gratitude for their patience,” Ju Young-hoon, head of the Presidential Security Service, said in a briefing.
“We concluded we have enough security capability to deal with possible danger factors that may arise from the road opening,” he said. “We expect the road, also along Gyeongbok Palace, will be one of Seoul’s representative trails.”
Police will also stop inspections at five checkpoints around Cheong Wa Dae and remove barricades.
People will also be allowed to take photos at any point surrounding the presidential office except for several guard posts, while taking pictures had been possible only at specific spots previously.
“The measures will break the convention that security checks only inconvenience the people and Cheong Wa Dae is an authoritarian space,” presidential spokesman Park Soo-hyun said.
To mark the opening, Cheong Wa Dae will hold a walking event on the road at 8 p.m. on June 26, with participants including Ju, first lady Kim Jung-sook, and Yoo Hong-joon, the former Cultural Heritage Administration chief who is leading President Moon Jae-in’s plan to move the presidential office to the Gwanghwamun area.