Asia | Palace politics

South Korea’s president-elect starts with an unpopular personal project

Yoon Suk-yeol wants to move the presidential office. Citizens would rather he focus on the economy

|SEOUL

ARRANGED IN TWO straight lines as if in formation, protesters outside South Korea’s defence ministry pumped their fists in time with a martial beat. “How many livelihoods are going to be killed by this move?” one demonstrator shouted. Ordinarily they would be found in Gwanghwamun, a wide plaza a few hundred metres from the presidential palace, known as the Blue House after the azure tiles on its soaring roof. But news that Yoon Suk-yeol, the president-elect, wants to move the administration to the ministry complex, a few miles south, had brought them to its gates.

This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “Yoon’s first move”

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From the March 26th 2022 edition

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