President Lee Jae-myung: "The Yongsan Presidential Office is a grave"… The cause is the previous government's 'return order'
Reports have emerged that President Lee Jae-myung used the term 'grave' to describe the Yongsan Presidential Office on his first day in office due to an unusual decision by key figures from the previous government.
On the 8th, Segye Ilbo reported that former presidential chief of staff Jeong Jin-seok and former presidential secretary for general affairs Yoon Jae-soon ordered all dispatched civil servants from various ministries to return prior to the presidential election.
The media outlet revealed that the information was acquired from government officials who worked at the Yoon Seok-yeol administration's presidential office until before the June 3 election or who returned to their respective ministries just before the election and subsequently returned to the presidential office following President Lee's executive order.
It was also confirmed that government officials deleted their email accounts ending with '@president.go.kr' to facilitate their return to their ministries in late May.
A 'clean withdrawal' without handover… An unusual measure disregarding customs
An official from an economic ministry stated in a call with the media outlet, "I understand that the decision for all ministries to return was directed by former Chief of Staff Jeong and former Secretary Yoon."
He continued, "While it was indeed unusual to issue the return order without leaving anyone for the handover process, we accepted it given the lengthy acting period and the absence of special handover matters."
Another official from an economic ministry mentioned, "It was expected that with the inauguration of a new government, each ministry would make dispatch appointments within about a week. The return order could essentially only be issued by the presidential chief of staff and the secretary for general affairs, and civil servants had no choice but to comply."
On the day before the election, on the 2nd, the dispatched civil servants locked the doors of their respective secretariat offices and concluded their dispatched duties under the direction of the chief of staff and others.
In the process, all documents and materials produced during the Yoon Seok-yeol administration were systematically destroyed, and computers were reset.
Since the election day, the 3rd, was a public holiday, it is reported that the officials took a day off and returned to their respective ministries starting from the 4th.
This has been confirmed to be a disregard of the custom where one or two civil servants are usually left in the secretariat office for handover during a regime change.
As a result, it has been reported that President Lee Jae-myung and the staff who returned to the presidential office starting from the 4th faced difficulties in carrying out even basic tasks.
Meanwhile, on the 9th, the Citizens' Action to Restore Judicial Justice (Sasehaeng) filed a complaint with the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials against former Chief of Staff Jeong for abuse of power, destruction of evidence, damage to public property, and violations of the Presidential Records Act.
Image sources: President Lee Jae-myung / News1, Former Chief of Staff Jeong Jin-seok / News1, Yongsan Presidential Office / News1
