Visitors rush to see South Korea's Blue House before presidential return

By Hyun Young Yi and Daewoung Kim

SEOUL (Reuters) -Hundreds of thousands of South Koreans have thronged the Blue House in central Seoul in recent months to get their last glimpse of the historic compound before it is returned to official use as the home and office of the country's president.

Lee Jae Myung, who won a snap election on June 3, plans to move into the Blue House soon and access to some buildings will be restricted from mid-July, the presidential office announced last week.

Former leader Yoon Suk Yeol, who was removed from office in April after briefly declaring martial law, broke with decades of tradition by shifting his office and residence out of the compound and opening it to the public.

"I heard this place will likely be closed soon. So I wanted to come at least once before that happened," said An Hyun, 62, an office worker from Wonju in northeastern Gangwon Province who was visiting the Blue House this week.

"Now that I've seen it, it's really neat and tidy. I don't understand why they moved out of here," said An.

Soon after taking office in 2022, Yoon moved the presidential office to a cluster of former defence ministry buildings in another area of central Seoul.

The move whipped up a fierce debate among experts on feng shui, a practice that originated in ancient China to ensure harmony between people and their environment, after some political rivals accused Yoon of being influenced by those who said the Blue House location was inauspicious.

The Blue House, or "Cheong Wa Dae" in Korean, is named after the blue tiles that cover the top of the main building and is nestled in a scenic spot in front of the Bugaksan mountain.

The Blue House Foundation that organises visits said tours to see the ornate state rooms and manicured lawns were fully booked until mid-July.

More than 8 million people had taken the chance to visit the Blue House by mid-June, data from the foundation showed.

After an initial surge of interest when the complex first opened to the public in 2022, the number of monthly visitors had drifted down to average about 160,000 last year, but after Yoon's impeachment visitor numbers hit 260,000 in April and 430,000 in May.

Another visitor this week, Jin Kyung-soo, a 35-year-old middle-school teacher, had also made a reservation to visit after hearing that the new administration planned to move in again.

"We waited in line for about an hour, but it was truly exciting and joyful. I looked around with great hope for what the Lee Jae Myung government will do going forward," said Jin.

(Reporting by Hyun Young Yi and Daewoung Kim;Editing by Ed Davies and Kate Mayberry)