STATE BANQUET HELD AT CHEONGWADAE

[Anchor Lead]

A state banquet of President Yoon Suk-yeol and Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc, who is currently on a state visit to South Korea, was held at Yeongbingwan, the state guest house of CheongWaDae. This is the first time CheongWaDae's state guest house was used for a state event since the relocation of the top office. It seems the presidential office will utilize the former guest house more flexibly going further, as President Yoon scrapped his plan to build a new state guest house near the Yongsan presidential office.

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President Yoon Suk-yeol greets Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc who made a state visit to South Korea. A banquet was held at Yeongbingwan, the state guest house of the former presidential complex CheongWaDae. This marks the first time the CheongWaDae reception hall was used for a state event since the relocation of the top office. Announcing relocation plans as president-elect, Yoon had said the guest house can still be utilized.

[Soundbite] Yoon Suk-yeol(Then President-elect (Mar. 2022)) : "I believe the guesthouse can be used for banquets serving foreign dignitaries."

However a summit banquet with U.S. President Joe Biden, the first major diplomatic function since Yoon took office, was held at the National Museum of Korea earlier this year. Subsequent events that hosted foreign dignitaries took place at the Yongsan presidential office, hotels or at Yoon's residence in Hannam-dong, Seoul. Opposition politicians continuously called for using the CheongWaDae guesthouse, but the venue had been sidelined until now. An 80 billion won budget that was earmarked to build a new reception hall near the Yongsan presidential office was later retracted after the plan drew controversy. Eventual use of the CheongWaDae facility underlines the difficult task in finding a substitute location that is suited for diplomatic protocols and does not cause public inconvenience. From now on, the presidential office is poised to use the former guest house in more flexible terms. Due to the latest event, public viewing of surrounding areas was restricted for 3 days, But this may be cut short to just one day in the future. The presidential office is reportedly considering various options including building a brand new guesthouse or constructing a new accommodation facility at CheongWaDae to host foreign guests.