President Lee Jae-myung went to work at Cheong Wa Dae for the first time on the 29th and began official duties. It has been 1,330 days since the previous Yoon Suk-yeol administration moved the presidential office to the Ministry of National Defense building in Yongsan immediately after its launch. Around 9:10 a.m. that day, Lee entered the main gate of Cheong Wa Dae by car and headed to the main building. With this, the "Cheong Wa Dae era" officially resumed after 3 years and 7 months. Many supporters gathered in front of Cheong Wa Dae that day to film Lee's commute.
The presidential phoenix flag that had hung at the Yongsan presidential office was re-hoisted at Cheong Wa Dae at midnight that day. According to Cheong Wa Dae, Lee will handle most duties not in the main building where presidents usually stay, but in a separate office inside Yeomin Building 1 where aides work. This reflects Lee's direction to improve efficiency by communicating closely at short range with the staff.
Yeomin Building 1 is the workspace of Chief of Staff Kang Hoon-sik; Policy Chief Kim Yong-bum; Office of National Security Director Wi Sung-lac; Senior Political Secretary Woo Sang-ho; and Senior Secretary for AI Future Planning Ha Jung-woo. Senior Civil Affairs Secretary Bong Wook and Senior Public Relations and Communications Secretary Lee Kyu-yeon work at Yeomin Building 2 and Yeomin Building 3, respectively. A presidential office official said the arrangement was "to avoid the past criticism of Cheong Wa Dae as a 'forbidden palace,'" adding, "We set up the office nearby to enable immediate policy communication when needed."