It was belatedly confirmed that the government had revised related regulations to allow the President’s Office to use the Blue House facilities without minimum procedures. There is criticism that this measure runs counter to the purpose of completely opening the Blue House.
According to an explanation from the office of Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Byeong-hoon, a member of the National Assembly Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee, on the 10th, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism revised the ‘Regulations on Operation of Blue House Tours, etc.’ (Blue House Operation Regulations) at the request of the President’s Office last May to ‘explain the relationship between the President’s Office and the President’s Office. Regarding the use of a related location, the following statement was added: “The application for a location use permit and a location use permit are deemed to have been made by immediately notifying the details of use after use.”
Before the revision, the President’s Office also had to submit an application for permission to use the venue in an official form to the Blue House Management and Utilization Promotion메이저놀이터 Team of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and go through the process of receiving permission from the director. However, all of these procedures can be omitted by simply providing a post-event notification. In effect, it gives the President’s Office the authority to use the Blue House without restrictions.
The opposition party criticized that the minimum control mechanism for the President’s Office’s use of the Blue House was neutralized. There is no way to prevent the President’s Office from using the Blue House in a manner that deviates from the venue permit standards set by the Blue House’s operating regulations, such as for national events attended by state guests or equivalent diplomatic missions and events hosted or hosted by the President’s Office.
Another problem is that the President’s Office’s post-notification method is unclear as it is not specifically regulated, and there is no way to enforce it even if it is not implemented. The opposition party argues that even if special matters such as presidential security are taken into account, related information should be transparently disclosed after the fact.
Some point out that the revised regulations run counter to the government’s policy of returning the Blue House to the people instead of relocating the President’s Office to Yongsan. Even now, as the Blue House guesthouse and main building are used for presidential office events, there are many cases where admission to some facilities is restricted even outside of regular closed days. From December of last year, when the Blue House was opened, to August of this year, out of 236 days excluding the president’s overseas trip schedule, the number of days on which the President’s Office applied to use the Blue House guesthouse amounted to 110 days.
Rep. Lee Byeong-hoon said, “After spending a huge amount of money and loudly saying that we would open the Blue House and return it to the people, the fact that the guesthouse and Sangchunjae were taken away again proves that the pledge to open the Blue House has failed,” adding, “The President has revised the Blue House viewing regulations by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.” In fact, the Blue House facilities can now be used as desired without any restrictions. He pointed out, “The relocation of the President’s Office, which cost close to 1 trillion won in taxpayers’ money, only resulted in the privatization of the Blue House without being able to keep the pledge to completely open it to the public.”