TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taipei City Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said Wednesday (Dec. 18) that if he were elected president in 2024, he would move the Presidential Office out of its present building because it was once used by the Japanese governors of the island.
While Ko is not a candidate in the upcoming January 11 presidential elections, he has said that barring unforeseen circumstances, he will run in 2024 after ending his second and final term as mayor of the capital.
In an interview with the China Times Group, the outspoken Ko said that Taiwanese have a confused sense of history, with the palace of the Japanese governors of the pre-1945 colonial period now serving as the office of the president, Nownews reported. South Korea would never use a former Japanese governor’s office as its presidential office, he stated.
If Ko won the 2024 election, he said he would turn the current Presidential Office building into a luxury hotel or museum and move the office north across the Keelung River to the Dazhi area. That neighborhood already houses the new Ministry of National Defense, which used to be located behind the Presidential Office building, and several other key defense institutions.
The office's proximity to the ministry would make it safer, said Ko. The Presidential Office does not need a large area, he said, adding that one room inside a military camp would be enough.
