Blue House in South Korea is now open to the public

The former presidential mansion in Seoul was a little-visited, closely guarded mountainside landmark for many South Koreans. This has now changed, as thousands of people have been granted access to the building for the first time in 74 years.

As one of his first moves, the new South Korean leader relocated the presidential offices from the Blue House, so named because of its distinctive blue roof tiles, and opened its gates to the public, allowing a maximum of 39,000 visitors per day.

The traditionally solemn compound has been transformed into a carnival, with eager throngs milling about and waiting in long lines.

“I feel grateful that the Blue House has opened to the public,” 61-year-old office worker Lee Sang-woon said during a tour with his family. “I am really happy to be here.”

The Blue House has undergone numerous changes. During Tokyo’s colonial domination of the Korean Peninsula, the Japanese built the official mansion for its governors-general on the location of a royal garden.

When Korea was liberated from Japan in 1945, the US military commander occupied the palace until it became the official presidential office and house of South Korea upon the country’s formation in 1948.

The inauguration of the Blue House is part of South Korean President Yoon Suk-commitment yeol’s to leave the palace and set up shop at a South Korean Ministry of Defense facility in Yongsan District, about 5 kilometres away.

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