A presidential petition against the president-elect’s plan to relocate the presidential office had garnered over 500,000 signatures of support Friday.

The petition on the presidential website operated by the Moon Jae-in government claims that President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol’s election pledge to relocate the presidential office from Cheong Wa Dae in Jongno, Seoul about 6 kilometers south to the Defense Ministry compound in Yongsan poses a threat to national security and is a waste of tax money.

“Yoon is forcefully moving the military facilities and systems that have been optimized as the ultimate keeper for national security to launch a presidential office only for his own satisfaction,” the anonymous petitioner wrote.

“The move not only poses a great threat to national security, but is a waste of a tremendous amount of taxpayer money. So I ask for the National Assembly to stop the unilateral and forceful relocation of the Defense Ministry.”

In just three days since the petition was uploaded on March 17, it had gained the 200,000 requisite signatures for the presidential office to give an official response.

But the response from the presidential office is unlikely to come in support of the petition, as President Moon Jae-in has already said that any decisions regarding the office relocation are up to the next government.

To fulfill his election pledge, President-elect Yoon has been strongly pushing the relocation of the presidential office, seeking to complete the process and start his work in the office that is to be newly launched in the Defense Ministry building from his inauguration on May 10.

But the plan has hit a hurdle, as the incumbent government did not approve of Yoon using reserve funds for the relocation. The Moon administration had similarly raised concerns over a security vacuum if the Defense Ministry and Joint Chiefs of Staff were forced to move hastily in just two months between the election and inauguration.

Yoon’s office has reportedly been reviewing the outline for the budget to report to the presidential office.

By Jo He-rim (herim@heraldcorp.com)