(Published: 2025-03-06 17:16:13)
The possibility of an early presidential election in South Korea in May raises the interesting question of where the new president should live. Until President Yoon Suk Yeol, every South Korean president had lived in Cheong Wa Dae, commonly known in English as the Blue House. Located behind the main royal palace Gyeongbokgung, Cheong Wa Dae was long the center of political power in South Korea.
After winning the presidency in 2022, Yoon Suk Yeol refused to live in Cheong Wa Dae, arguing that it was “a symbol of imperial power.” This forced the government to scramble to find a new office and residence for the president. The office quickly moved to Yongsan-gu near Samgakji Station, but Yoon continued to live in his private residence before moving to Hannam-dong. Cheong Wa Dae, meanwhile, was opened to the public for tours.
At the time, these moves were controversial. Yoon’s insistence on moving, despite the costs and inconvenience, puzzled many and cast a shadow over his presidency from the start. Now impeached and arrested, Yoon will most likely be removed from office, never to return to the Hannam-dong residence. Within 60 days of his removal, South Korea will have an election to choose a new president.
The Yongsan presidential office and the Hannam-dong residence are associated with Yoon and his attempted insurrection. The new president will be tasked with restoring respect for the Constitution and democratic processes and will most certainly look for new spaces. But where?
The most obvious choice is back to Cheong Wa Dae. Tours have brought many eyes to the buildings, but all of the former spaces are intact and could be used again if security measures are put back in place. Moving back to Cheong Wa Dae would represent a restoration of the democratic order that Yoon has assaulted. From that perspective, it is a conservative move with its focus on tradition and stability.
Another choice would be to move to Sejong City. Founded as Sejong Special Self-Governing City in 2012, the city grew out of a 2003 plan devised by President Roh Moo-hyun to move the capital from Seoul. Roh wanted to promote balanced regional development, but the plan ran into trouble in 2004 when the Constitutional Court stated that the capital could not be moved from Seoul without a change to the Constitution. Lee Myung-bak, Roh’s successor, wanted to scrap the idea of moving government offices in favor of turning the city into a research hub. Park Geun-hye, Lee’s successor, supported the idea of moving government offices, in the hope of getting votes from the nearby area. Since then, a number of important government offices, including the office of the prime minister, have moved to Sejong. The population has grown from 113,000 in 2012 to 389,000 in 2024.
Plans to build a second presidential office by 2027 and a branch of the National Assembly by 2030 are moving forward, but they are designed as secondary facilities under the assumption that Seoul remains the capital. To move the president and National Assembly to Sejong would thus require a change in the Constitution, which is not easy. Even if the Constitution were amended, building new facilities that befit a permanent home for the president and National Assembly would take years.
Moving the capital to Sejong is forward-looking and symbolizes a renewed focus on decentralization from Seoul in the hope of achieving more balanced development. In the 20-some years since President Roh’s proposal, the concentration of population in Seoul and the surrounding areas has continued to increase. During the same time, populations of large regional cities peaked and have since been decreasing. Smaller regional cities have been even harder hit.
National capitals, planned or otherwise, are full of symbolism, but it is difficult to see how a new capital in Sejong will help other regional cities, aside from possibly nearby Daejeon and Cheongju. It may slow the growth of Seoul but not the surrounding areas in Incheon and Gyeonggi Province. The high cost of real estate in Seoul has already produced a population loss, but those moving out are going to surrounding areas, not regional cities.
If moving the capital to Sejong is symbolic, it offers a fresh start. If it is about promoting balanced development, then it might not be fair to regional centers and smaller cities facing population decline and weakening economies. Moving the capital requires a national consensus, so perhaps it is best for the next president to move back to Cheong Wa Dae and discuss the future of Sejong from there.