Rep. Jin Seong-joon “budget approaching 400 million won”
It has been confirmed that the Ministry of National Defense is building a new access road to the east of the Yongsan Presidential Office. Opposition parties are saying that it is a passage dedicated to the president to omit the question and answer (door stepping) on the way to work if necessary.
The Kyunghyang Shinmun on the 10th confirmed through the office of Rep. Jin Seong-joon of the Democratic Party of Korea that the Ministry of National Defense has been constructing a new access road to the east of the presidential office in Yongsan-gu, Seoul since last July. The construction period of the access road is expected to be completed by the middle of this month or until November 23. The construction is carried out by Hyundai E&C, and the contract amount is 37993 million won. Senator Jin Seong-joon’s office said that the eastern entrance is likely to be used as a new commuter route for President Yoon. Considering that the eastern access road was blocked until recently, and that most of the employees use the western access road close to the triangle area, the construction of the access road is not for the convenience of the employees. A military official also said that it was “construction of the presidential passageway” in the office of Senator Jin.
Rep. Jin said, “There are doubts whether they are trying to avoid door stepping by creating a passage for the president.” He said, “I wonder if the public will be able to convince the public why they need to spend close to 400 million won for the construction of the access road to the president’s office.”
Recently, President Yoon has frequently shown that he has reduced the total amount of Q&A at door stepping and has not responded to sensitive issues. At the door stepping on the 29th of last month, he left without answering a reporter’s question regarding whether he was willing to express his regrets over the profanity scandal during his tour of New York, USA.
Under the current law, the Presidential Office building is managed by the Presidential Secretariat, so construction must also be ordered from the Presidential Secretariat. However, as the site of the government building is still under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of National Defense, the construction of the eastern access road is also under the control of the Ministry of National Defense.
An official from the presidential office said, “The access road on the east side has been there since the days of the Ministry of National Defense. We cannot reveal the President’s commuting route, but it will not affect the door stepping.” “Even if a new access road is maintained, (President Yoon) will use the south entrance as it is, unless there are special circumstances,” he said.
