Lee makes last public appearance before moving out of Yongsan office

President Lee Jae Myung met bereaved families of civil servants who perished while on duty in his last public appearance before moving out of the presidential office in Yongsan-gu, Seoul Friday.

According to presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung, Lee held a lunch meeting with 35 bereaved family members of 18 deceased public servants — police officers, firefighters, Coast Guard officers and others — in the venue used as the presidential office since May 2022.

"First and foremost, it is significant to keep the promise of completing the relocation from the Yongsan presidential office to Cheong Wa Dae before the end of this year," Kang told reporters, adding Lee was expected to deliver his message about the relocation.

Also on Friday, the presidential office unveiled photos of Lee entering the main gate of the Yongsan office, describing the scene as Lee's "final commute."

The presidential office announced Wednesday that the Phoenix Flag that symbolizes the head of state in South Korea will be lowered in the office in Yongsan-gu early Monday. It will be simultaneously raised at Cheong Wa Dae.

The flag-raising marks the final step of the long-awaited presidential office relocation back to what had been used as the presidential compound for decades in South Korea's modern history.

Lee's predecessor, ex-President Yoon Suk Yeol, started working at the presidential office in Yongsan from Day One of his term in May 2022. The relocation plan was touted as a way to end the national leader's isolation from the public, but it was also perceived as a unilateral move without public consensus on the matter.

The move also sparked criticism regarding its costly plan and exposed security glitches at the Yongsan location.

Lee, who came to power in June after Yoon was removed from office due to a self-coup attempt, pledged to move out of the Yongsan office, return to Cheong Wa Dae and install a new presidential office in the de facto administrative capital of Sejong.