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
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”
Asia March 26th 2022
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