Cheong Wa Dae (; Hanja: ; ), also known as the Blue House, is a public park that formerly served as the executive office and official residence of the president of South Korea from 1948 to 2022. It is located in the Jongno district of the South Korean capital Seoul. Cheong Wa Dae is in fact a complex of multiple buildings, built largely in the traditional Korean architectural style with some modern architectural elements and facilities. Cheong Wa Dae now consists of the Main Office Hall Bon-gwan (; Hanja: ; lit. "Main House"), the Presidential Residence, the State Reception House Yeongbin-gwan (; Hanja: ; lit. "Welcome-Guest House"), the Chunchu-gwan (; Hanja: ; lit. "Spring-Autumn House") Press Hall, and the Secretariat Buildings. The entire complex covers approximately 250,000 square metres or 62 acres. Cheong Wa Dae was built upon the site of the royal garden of the Joseon Dynasty (1392–1910). While the Blue House served as an executive office, it was one of the most protected official residences in Asia. Upon the inauguration of President Yoon Suk-yeol in May 2022, Cheong Wa Dae was relieved of its duties as the official residence and executive office of the president and was fully converted to a public park. History The location of Cheong Wa Dae was the site of a royal villa in what was then Hanyang, the southern capital of the Goryeo dynasty (918–1392). It was built by King Sukjong (r. 1095–1105) in 1104. Goryeo's principal capital was at Kaesong, and it also maintained a western capital at Pyongyang and an eastern capital at Gyeongju. After the Joseon Dynasty (1392–1897) moved its capital to Hanyang, Gyeongbokgung was built in 1395, the fourth year of the reign of King Taejo (r. 1392–1398) as the main palace, and the royal villa lot became the back garden of the palace. It was used as the site for civil service examinations and military training. Following Japan's annexation of Korea in 1910, the Japanese governor of Korea used the Gyeongbokgung grounds for the Government-General Building. In July 1939, Japan built an official residence/office for the governor-general on the site of Cheong Wa Dae. With the establishments of the Republic of Korea in 1948, President Syngman Rhee called the building "Gyeong Mu Dae" (; Hanja: , ), which was the name of one of the few old buildings for former official residence there. He used it as his