South Koreans flock to Blue House ahead of presidential return

New Straits Times

2 days ago

SEOUL: The queue stretches all the way down the road. Tens of thousands of people are flocking to South Korea's historic Blue House before the new president moves his office back in.
Ex-president Yoon Suk Yeol spurned the elegant compound in leafy northern Seoul claiming it was too "imperial". He opened it to the public in 2022, and moved into a hastily converted ministry instead.
But with Yoon impeached over a failed martial law bid, newly elected Lee Jae-myung plans to move the seat of power back, triggering a frenzy of last-minute visits.
"I figured if I missed this chance I would never get to come here," said Jang Myung-hee, 65, who visited with her friends.
She said it was the "right call" for South Korea's leaders to resettle in the Blue House as it "befits the nation's prestige".
"I can definitely feel this place is different."
The building is named for the approximately 150,000 hand-painted blue tiles that adorn its roof. Once occupied by former colonial power Japan, the site has housed South Korea's leaders for seven decades.
On the campaign trail, Lee vowed to return.
"It is traditional, symbolic and optimal," he told local media.
Official figures show visitors to the Blue House surged ahead of the June 3 snap election: around 427,000 in May -- double the number from the same month last year.
In all, more than 7.8 million people -- including 800,000 foreigners -- have visited since the site's May 2022 public opening.
"I have come here with my kids for educational purposes, as it might be difficult for us to visit again," said Son Young-ah, 49.
One woman, upon leaving the main gate muttered: "With this exit, I may never be able to set foot here again."
In early 2018, during a period of warmer ties, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's sister visited the Blue House -- the first by the isolated country's ruling Kim family.
"I look forward to seeing Pyongyang and Seoul come closer in the minds of Korean people," Kim Yo Jong wrote in the visitors' book.
The Blue House has long been the subject of public fascination, fuelled in part by a series of misfortunes that have befallen past inhabitants, including assassinations, impeachments, corruption trials and imprisonments.
Yoon's relocation may have been in part an effort to escape such a fate -- which some believe is linked to the feng shui of the site. But the change in premises failed to spare his presidency: he was impeached in April after his brief martial law declaration and now faces a criminal trial.
Yoon's replacement had little interest in continuing to occupy the former Defence Ministry in central Seoul.
The ministry is plagued by "security issues such as wiretapping" and lacks the privacy and seclusion of the Blue House, Lee has said.
Not all sections of the storied compound -- including its administrative offices and an underground bunker -- have been opened to tourists.
As such, the site "would only require a bit of renovation to reopen," Choi Gi-il, a former presidential security aid, told AFP.
He added that the main blue-tiled building was primarily for ceremonial purposes and hosting foreign dignitaries, making it less vulnerable to security breaches.
No date has been announced for the return to Blue House, but visitors to the site felt it was imminent.
"I held off coming here because I thought I could come here anytime," Kim Jong-chun, 71, told AFP. But he realised it was now or never after Lee's election.