Aids Get Close to President within Blue House

"Rearrange the offices in the Blue House to fit into the images of a diligent president and an open Blue House!"

This is the direction given by President-elect Roh Moo-hyun to the Presidential Transition Committee. Mr. Roh added, "The president`s office in the Blue House structurally entails isolation and authoritarianism by separating the president from his aids and the people."

As promised repeatedly throughout the campaign, he plans to show a president who could freely discuss and debate various issues with his aids like in classroom.

Currently, the president`s office is located in the main wing, while his aids work in a separate wing about 700m apart from the main wing.

It`s about 5-minute walk. If an aid wants to report to the president, he/she should first obtain a permission from the security detail, and then comes over to the main wing in a car.

The committee explained that Mr. Roh believes that this structure would not facilitate a smooth flowing of ideas between the president and his aids, thereby making it hard to relay the public opinion to the president

The transition committee is currently reviewing three options: first, moving the aids` offices to the main wing; moving the president`s office to the wing where the aids work; and setting up the president`s office in each wing and operating them functionally.

Most committee members, however, are leaning toward the first plan. Remodeling the president`s office in the main wing could yield out enough space for setting up aids` offices, since the president`s office occupies an area of 330m2.

After consulting the secret service team, the committee concluded that there would be no obstacle imposed for security purposes.

Chung Soon-gyun, the committee spokesperson, said, "It`s not about constructing a new building. Thus, it would not take a long time. Preliminary works including installing bullet-proof windows will be done first. The other works including framing will be done after the inauguration."

Yong-Gwan Jung yongari@donga.com