Revival of the Presidential Office Emblem, First Application Under the Lee Jae-myung Administration

The Lee Jae-myung administration has officially introduced the revived Presidential Office emblem at its first official event.

This logo, which was discarded during the Yoon Suk-yeol administration, was first applied to the podium in the presidential office press conference room on the 22nd.

Until the 19th, the emblem created during the Yoon Suk-yeol administration had been in use, but it has now been replaced with a traditional logo resembling the Cheong Wa Dae building.

On the 13th, the Presidential Office officially announced that the Lee Jae-myung administration would refrain from using the current emblem that depicts the Yongsan Presidential Office, opting instead to revert to the emblem previously used.

However, considering that the current workspace is still located in Yongsan, the designation "Presidential Office" will be maintained, and once the return to Cheong Wa Dae is complete, this designation will be changed to "Cheong Wa Dae."

History and Evolution of the Presidential Office Emblem

The Cheong Wa Dae emblem was first established in March 1995 during the Kim Young-sam administration. Since then, while the design details have been gradually modified through various administrations, the basic structure with the Cheong Wa Dae main building at the center has been maintained.

A significant change to this logo occurred during the Lee Myung-bak administration, where the Cheong Wa Dae building pattern was simplified, and the background image of Inwangsan Mountain was removed.

This version is reported to have been produced by Cheil Worldwide.

During the Park Geun-hye administration, the color of the Cheong Wa Dae building changed from blue to black, and the arrangement of the text and border design was altered. This emblem particularly drew attention due to its association with the 'state affairs manipulation' scandal.

In the recorded phone calls secured by special prosecutor Park Young-soo's team, former President Park Geun-hye mentioned the necessity for a renewal of the Cheong Wa Dae emblem, in which Choi Seo-won (formerly Choi Soon-sil) instructed a third party regarding related tasks.

The Moon Jae-in administration did not make any modifications to this emblem and continued to use it as is.

Yoon Suk-yeol Administration's Yongsan Era and Logo Controversy

The Presidential Office emblem of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration was a prominent visual symbol representing the 'Yongsan Era.'

Immediately upon taking office, former President Yoon Suk-yeol opened the Cheong Wa Dae to the public and relocated the presidential office to the Ministry of Defense building in Yongsan, discarding the Cheong Wa Dae emblem that had been in use for nearly 28 years and applied a new emblem starting in November 2022.

This logo featured a design with a phoenix symbolizing the president and the national flower, Hibiscus syriacus, set against a backdrop of the Yongsan Presidential Office building.

At that time, the Presidential Office explained that this emblem symbolizes freedom, peace, and prosperity, but criticisms arose that it resembled the prosecutor's office logo.

It was pointed out that the parallel lines of the prosecutor's office logo share similarities with the shape of the presidential office emblem. Coupled with criticisms of 'prosecutorial dictatorship' directed at the Yoon Suk-yeol administration, opposition parties reacted by questioning whether "the Presidential Office's symbol system (CI) was also created by prosecutors."

Image source: News1, Cheong Wa Dae logo / Presidential Office, Kim Eun-hye, the then Chief of Public Relations, during a briefing on November 30, 2023 / News1