It has been confirmed that the government has set a budget of 17.6 billion won over two years to remodel the Blue House buildings, which were used as the president’s office, into tourist facilities. Given that this is a budget that would not have been spent if the President’s Office had not been relocated to Yongsan, the opposition party is criticizing that “the cost of relocating the President’s Office will continue to increase.”
According to the government’s ‘2024 budget and fund operation plan business explanatory material’ obtained by the Hankyoreh on the 6th through the office of Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Doo-kwan, a member of the National Assembly’s Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee, the government plans to spend 7.5 billion won in 2024 and 101 billion won in 2025 for the Blue House comprehensive redevelopment project. A budget of 17.6 billion won was set for two years, including 86 million won.
This is part of the cost of creating the Blue House, which opened on the day of President Yoon Seok-yeol’s inauguration in May 2022, into a complex space for history, culture and arts. Last May, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the responsible ministry, announced its plan to create a world-class tourism landmark by upgrading the interior of the Blue House into a space where history, culture, and nature come together to mark the one-year anniversary of the opening of the Blue House. Two months after the opening of the Blue House, the Cultural Heritage Administration conducted a survey of visitors regarding future use of the Blue House. Although the answer for preserving the original form (40.9%) far exceeded the response for creating a cultural and arts space (15.2%), a large amount of budget was ultimately invested to develop a full-fledged complex facility for the Blue House. will step forward.
According to the government’s specific plan, Yeomin Building 2, where the Moon Jae-in administration’s Blue House Office of Senior Secretary to the President for Civil Affairs and the Office of the Director of Policy were located, will be converted into a multi-purpose rest facility including a library and cafe, and Yeomin Building 3, where the Office of Senior메이저사이트 Secretary to the President for Public Relations and the National Security Office will be located, will be converted into performance-related auxiliary facilities. Chunchu Hall, which housed the Blue House press room and briefing room, will be reborn as a multi-purpose room for exhibitions and performances. The security building will be restructured for business purposes. Most of the budget is spent on construction costs (16.2 billion won). The government plans to hold a design contest in January next year and complete the maintenance project by February 2025.
The opposition party criticized this as a waste of budget due to the Yongsan relocation. President Yoon Seok-yeol said that the cost of relocating the President’s Office when he was elected was 49.6 billion won, but this was only the ‘basic construction cost’ for relocating the President’s Office to the Yongsan Ministry of National Defense building, and the derivative costs continued to increase. Previously, the President’s Office also corrected the relocation cost to 51.69 billion won, including the increased construction cost of the official residence. The cost does not include the cost of maintaining the Blue House, such as remodeling costs.
Rep. Kim Doo-kwan said, “There is no sign of the domino budget due to the Yongsan relocation ending. Next year’s research and development ( R&D ) budget has been cut by more than 20%, tying the hands and feet of researchers in the science and technology field, and the budget for public housing has also been significantly reduced. “Many people will not easily understand spending more than 10 billion won on remodeling the Blue House,” he pointed out.