President Yoon Seok-yeol’s wife, Kim Geon-hee (center), visits Bonghama Village, Jinyeong-eup, Gimhae-si, Gyeongsangnam-do on the afternoon of the 13th and worships at the graveyard of the late former President Roh Moo-hyun. [사진=연합뉴스]
Instead of establishing the second annex, the presidential office decided to manage the schedule of Mrs. Even though Ms. Kim completed her 6 official schedules only last week, the presidential office came up with an alternative by reinforcing the personnel of the first annex instead of establishing an organization.
According to the Ajou Economic Daily report on the 19th, it was reported that the presidential office had a negative opinion about the establishment of the second annex. The abolition of the second annex is a promise made by President Yoon Seok-yeol, and it is difficult to abolish it. Instead of overturning the promise, it is likely that a new team dedicated to Mrs. Kim will be established in the first annex to manage Mrs. Kim’s schedule.
At the time of the presidential election, President Yoon promised to abolish the second annex, saying, “The term ‘first lady’ does not fit the current consciousness of our people.”
There are 6 schedules that Ms. Kim has officially digested over the past week. Starting with her visit to Bongha Village in Gimhae, Gyeongsangnam-do on the 13th, Ms. Kim put her end to ‘Quiet Housewives’.
On the 14th, I had a luncheon with the spouses of a senior member of the National Power of 4th or higher, and on the 16th, I visited the late former President Chun Doo-hwan, Lee Soon-ja. Also, on the 17th, after having a luncheon with President Yoon at the War Memorial of Korea in Yongsan-gu to invite national merit and veterans’ families, he visited former President Moon Jae-in’s wife Kim Jung-sook in Seoul.
The day before, I attended a concert to commemorate Major Sim Jeong-min in Pyeongchang-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, without President Yoon.
The problem was that a professor from a certain university, who was known as an acquaintance rather than an official training team, was accompanying him when he visited Bonghama Village. With this in mind, voices of the resurrection of the second annex broke out from both the ruling and opposition parties. In addition, there are criticisms that it is appropriate to just reinforce the personnel of the 1st annex without a dedicated organization even though the schedule to digest alone without President Yoon’s accompaniment increases.
It seems that Mrs. Kim also felt burdened by the ongoing controversy. Originally, Ms. Kim was scheduled to attend an event to invite ten residents in the grass yard in front of the Yongsan Presidential Office on that day, but she was ultimately canceled.
The presidential office explained, “Mrs. Kim, who was originally scheduled to attend, had to take care of herself, so she inevitably decided not to attend.”
During the remodeling of the presidential office building, President Yoon took care of his work in the auxiliary office on the 5th floor. After the second floor office is completed, it is planned to be mainly used, and the space on the fifth floor will be converted into a multi-purpose reception room to be used for Ms. Kim’s public affairs.
- reporter information
- Seulgi Kim
- ksg49@ajunews.com
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