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President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol speaks at a briefing held at the offices of his presidential transition committee in central Seoul’s Samcheong neighborhood on March 20 regarding his plan to move the presidential office to the Ministry of National Defense compound in Yongsan, Seoul. (pool photo)

Many in South Korea wonder why President-Elect Yoon Suk-yeol is in such a hurry to relocate the presidential office just 11 days after being elected. Since the presidential primary, Yoon has been persistently accused of having ties to shamans, and those allegations were raised again when he announced his plan to relocate the office to Yongsan.

Yoon made the announcement during a press conference Sunday at the office of the presidential transition committee, in Seoul’s Samcheong neighborhood.

While Yoon was fielding questions after disclosing the relocation plan in the press conference, a reporter brought up Yoon’s abrupt change of locations from Gwanghwamun to Yongsan and asked him to comment about allegations that the decision was tied to geomancy (also known as feng shui) or shamanistic practices — allegations that have also been raised by the Democratic Party.

“That’s an issue that came up in the presidential election, but the Democratic Party seems to be more interested in shamans [than I am]. I’d never written off the idea of [moving the office to] Yongsan, and I considered several options while I was drawing up my campaign pledges.”

“Some are claiming that [the decision to move the presidential office to Yongsan] was based on the advice of a geomancer,” said Yun Ho-jung, chair of the Democratic Party’s emergency steering committee, on Thursday.

Amid claims that his plan to move the presidential office was prompted by shamanism or other dubious motivations, Yoon dismissed such suspicions, which he dubbed as a conspiracy theory originating with the Democratic Party.

But members of the ruling Democratic Party aren’t the only ones who have been raising such suspicions. Lee Jae-oh, a senior advisor for Yoon’s People Power Party and someone who played a key role in the presidency of Lee Myung-bak, criticized Yoon on Thursday for the move to Yongsan, which he said was obviously based on a belief in geomancy.

The spotlight has also returned to a recorded phone call in which Yoon’s wife Kim Keon-hee told a reporter from a news website that she agreed about the need to relocate the Blue House’s guest quarters.

During the phone call, a reporter from a news website told Kim that a Taoist monk had said that Yoon would become president and that the first thing he ought to do upon arriving at the Blue House is relocate the guest quarters. Kim responded by saying, “We’re going to move them.” When the reporter asked if they would really do that, she said they would.

In effect, Kim’s comments about relocating the guest quarters, in conjunction with the allegations raised in the primary about Yoon and Kim’s dependence upon shamans, have stoked the debate about relocating the presidential office.

By Song Chae Kyung-hwa, staff reporter; Kim Mi-na, staff reporter

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