As the Lee Jae-myung administration pushes for a return of the presidential office to Cheong Wa Dae, the Ministry of National Defense, the original occupant of the Yongsan presidential office site, has moved to secure a budget of a little over 20 billion won.
According to the office of Kang Dae-sik of the People Power Party, a member of the National Defense Committee, on the 23rd, the Ministry of National Defense submitted to the National Assembly its view that a total increase of 23.86 billion won is needed in next year's Ministry of National Defense budget, citing the need to relocate the Ministry and the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) buildings following the presidential office's return to Cheong Wa Dae.
They include 13.3 billion won for network installation expenses such as networks, PCs, and conference room video equipment, 6.56 billion won for facility repairs, and 4 billion won for freight moving costs. This budget was reflected in the National Defense Committee's review of next year's Ministry of National Defense budget and was approved as is, and it is now awaiting review by the Special Committee on Budget & Accounts.
The Ministry of National Defense plans to restore the Ministry and the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) buildings to their pre-"presidential office transfer to Yongsan" status under the Yoon Suk-yeol administration in May 2022. The 10-story building currently used as the president's office was originally the Ministry of National Defense headquarters used by the Ministry since 2003.
However, when the presidential office was transferred to Yongsan, the Ministry of National Defense moved into the adjacent JCS building, and for more than three years to date the Ministry and the JCS have cohabited in one building. Some departments of the Ministry and units directly under the Ministry have been dispersed on and off base due to a lack of space.
The Yoon Suk-yeol administration had also pursued a space reallocation plan to construct a new JCS building in the Namtaeryeong Capital Defense Command area at a cost of about 240 billion won. However, during the feasibility study, due to martial law, impeachment, and the subsequent change of administration, it was effectively scrapped.
The Lee Jae-myung administration is pushing to return the Yongsan presidential office to Cheong Wa Dae. It is reported that if the presidential office returns to Cheong Wa Dae, the Ministry of National Defense will move back to its former Yongsan building, and the current Ministry building will be used solely by the JCS. An official at the Ministry of National Defense said, "We could not specifically verify the internal status of the building due to presidential office security issues, but we first applied for the budget for the building transfer."