Stain of martial law bid deters use of South Korea Yoon s office

SEOUL - Just three years after South Koreas former President Yoon Suk Yeol moved the presidential office from the historic Blue House, his potential successors are vowing to move again, as they seek to escape the taint of his martial law attempt.

Yoon, stripped of office on April 4 over the bid that triggered a snap election on June 3, never set foot in the Blue House, having promised to abolish the imperial presidency that he said the old executive compound had come to embody.

His move to the defence ministry headquarters was estimated to have cost at least $40 million, with renovations still in progress when he was removed. Critics of the move have said the total cost could reach 1 trillion won ($721 million).

Yoons office denied that claim while saying indirect costs could take the total to 80 billion won. It has never released an official accounting.

It is where a military coup was plotted, Kim Min-seok, a Democratic Party lawmaker and a key ally of the presidential frontrunner Lee Jae-myung, said of Yoons new office.

Besides, it made little sense for the president to be in the same place as the military, he added.

Both Lee and Kim Moon-soo, the candidate of the conservative People Power Party, say they would need to initially move into the office after the June 4 inauguration for lack of a secure alternative, but plan to move as soon as possible afterwards.

Lee said his time spent there would be short, until the Blue House is ready for him to move back, before eventually taking the office permanently to Sejong, an administrative city hours away in the central region.

Kim has also said he would set up an office in Sejong soon.

Yoon could not immediately be reached for comment.

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