South Korean President Lee returns to presidential palace avoided by predecessor

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean President Lee Jae Myung on Monday commuted to Cheong Wa Dae, the country’s traditional presidential palace, for the first time since taking office in June, more than three years after his ousted predecessor Yoon Suk Yeol moved the presidential office to the Defense Ministry compound.

It was the first time a president had commuted to Cheong Wa Dae since May 9, 2022, the final day of former President Moon Jae-in’s term, before Yoon began his presidency working out of a converted Defense Ministry building. Following the relocation, Yoon opened parts of Cheong Wa Dae to the public as a tourist site, which drew millions of visitors.

Lee, who won a snap presidential election in June following Yoon’s removal over a brief declaration of martial law in December 2024, spent weeks relocating the presidential office back to Cheong Wa Dae, also known as the Blue House, as he seeks to erase the legacy of his now-jailed predecessor.

Cheong Wa Dae is nestled on the lower slopes of a mountain in northern Seoul, occupying about 250,000 square meters (62 acres) behind the historic Gyeongbokgung Palace. The site, which has undergone several renovations over the decades, has served primarily as the country’s presidential office since the government’s founding following independence from Japanese colonial rule at the end of World War II.

Ahead of Lee’s commute, officials raised a presidential flag featuring two phoenixes at Cheong Wa Dae at midnight, marking the palace’s return as the official presidential office. Guards saluted as Lee’s motorcade passed the compound gates, as dozens of supporters nearby waved the South Korean flag and chanted his name.

Lee’s office later released a video of him holding a tea meeting with senior aides in one of Cheong Wa Dae’s rooms.

He later inspected Cheong Wa Dae’s National Crisis Management Center, an underground bunker for security and disaster response coordination that was refurbished ahead of his return, and carried out his first approval at the palace by formally accepting Benin’s ambassador-designate to South Korea, presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said.

Lee also issued a statement expressing sympathy to the families of the 179 people killed in a Jeju Air crash a year ago in the coastal town of Muan, urging officials involved in the fact-finding investigation to fully establish the cause of the accident.

Lee’s office said he will commute from the current presidential residence in another part of Seoul until it is moved back to Cheong Wa Dae at an unspecified date.

Arguing that the hillside Cheong Wa Dae was too isolated from the public, Yoon reportedly spent about $40 million relocating the presidential office to several buildings at the Defense Ministry compound in Yongsan in central Seoul, dismissing concerns over security and costs and claiming the move would make his presidency more democratic.

Yoon, a staunch conservative, later triggered the country’s deepest democratic crisis in decades when he declared martial law on Dec. 3, 2024, during a standoff with Lee’s liberal Democratic Party, which controlled the legislature and obstructed much of his policy agenda.

Martial law lasted only hours, after a quorum of lawmakers broke through a military blockade and voted to lift the measure. Yoon was impeached later that month, removed from office in April by a Constitutional Court ruling and re-arrested in July. He now faces serious criminal charges, including rebellion, which carries a possible life sentence or the death penalty.

A general view of South Korea's presidential office Cheong Wa Dae, also known as the Blue House in Seoul Monday, Dec. 29, 2025. (Jeoon Heon-Kyun/Pool Photo via AP)

A general view of Cheong Wa Dae, also known as the Blue House, is seen in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025. (Lee Jung-hun/Yonhap via AP)

A general view of Cheong Wa Dae, also known as the Blue House, is seen in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025. (Kim Do-hun/Yonhap via AP)

South Korea's National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac, right, talks with Chief Security of National Policy Kim Yongbeom as they wait of South Korean President Lee Jae Myung's arrival at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae, or the Blue House in Seoul Monday, Dec. 29, 2025. (Jeoon Heon-Kyun/Pool Photo via AP)

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, left, arrives at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae, or the Blue House in Seoul, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025 as Lee marked his first official day at Cheong Wa Dae on Monday after three years and seven months since the Yoon Seok-yeol government moved the presidential office to Yongsan in May 2022. (Jeoon Heon-Kyun/Pool Photo via AP)

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, center, arrives at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae, or the Blue House in Seoul, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025 as Lee marked his first official day at Cheong Wa Dae on Monday after three years and seven months since the Yoon Seok-yeol government moved the presidential office to Yongsan in May 2022. (Jeoon Heon-Kyun/Pool Photo via AP)

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, center, arrives at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae, or the Blue House in Seoul, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025 as Lee marked his first official day at Cheong Wa Dae on Monday after three years and seven months since the Yoon Seok-yeol government moved the presidential office to Yongsan in May 2022. (Jeoon Heon-Kyun/Pool Photo via AP)

One U.S. service member was rescued and at least one was missing after two U.S. military planes went down in separate incidents including the first shoot-down since the war began nearly five weeks ago.

It was the first time U.S. aircraft have been downed in the conflict and came just two days after President Donald Trump said in a national address that the U.S. has “beaten and completely decimated Iran.”

One fighter jet was shot down in Iran, officials said. A U.S. crew member from that plane was rescued, but a second was missing, and a U.S. military search-and-rescue operation was underway.

Separately, Iranian state media said a U.S. A-10 attack aircraft crashed in the Persian Gulf after being struck by Iranian defense forces. A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive military situation, said it was not clear if the aircraft crashed or was shot down.

The war now entering its sixth week is destabilizing economies around the world as Iran responds to the U.S. and Israeli attacks by targeting the Gulf region's energy infrastructure and tightening its grip on oil and natural gas shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.

Here is the latest:

U.S. and Israeli warplanes continued to pound Iran Saturday, hitting several targets including a petrochemical facility, Iranian media reported.

Iran's official English-language newspaper Tehran Times reported that an airstrike hit a facility belonging to Iran’s Agriculture Ministry in the western city of Mehran.

The newspaper said another air raid struck Mahshahr Special Petrochemical Zone in the southwestern Khuzestan province.

The semiofficial Fars news agency reported several explosions heard late Saturday morning in the facility.

Mehr, another semiofficial news agency, reported that the strikes hit four companies within the zone.

Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf made the veiled threat in a social media post late Friday, asking about how busy oil tanker and container ship traffic is through the strait.

The 20-mile (32-kilometer) strait links the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean and is one of the busiest chokepoints in global trade, with more than a tenth of seaborne global oil and a quarter of container ships passing through it.

Iran has already greatly disrupted the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz, sending fuel prices skyrocketing and jolting the world economy.

Disrupting transit through the Bab el-Madeb would force shipping firms to route their vessels around the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa, further hitting prices.

Israel’s rescue services said Saturday the man sustained glass shrapnel wounds after an Iranian missile hit the central city of Bnei Brak.

It wasn't clear if the glass shrapnel was caused by a direct strike or falling debris from an intercepted missile.

Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue services said it was taking the man to the hospital.

The Iranian judiciary's Mizan news agency said Saturday that the two men who were hanged belonged to the Iranian exile group Mujahedeen-e-Khalq.

The agency said Abul-Hassan Montazer and Vahid Bani-Amirian were convicted of “being members of a terrorist group.”

This brings to six the total number of MEK members executed since the start of the war.

Activists and rights groups say Iran routinely holds closed-door trials in which defendants are unable to challenge the accusations they face.

The Israeli military said on Saturday that its air force struck ballistic and and anti-aircraft missile storage sites in Tehran.

It said the strikes a day earlier included weapons manufacture sites as well as military research and development facilities in the Iranian capital.

It said the strikes are part of an ongoing phase to increase damage to Iran's “core systems and foundations.”

Authorities in Dubai said the facades of two buildings were damaged by debris from intercepted drones, including one belonging to U.S. tech firm Oracle. No injuries were reported.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has threatened to attack Oracle and 17 other U.S. companies after accusing them of being involved in “terrorist espionage” operations in Iran.

Previous Iranian drone strikes caused damage to three Amazon Web Services facilities in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

As of Friday, 247 of the wounded were Army soldiers, 63 were Navy sailors, 19 were Marines and 36 were Air Force airmen, according to Pentagon data available online.

It is unclear if the data includes any of the service members involved in the downing of two combat aircraft reported Friday.

Most of the wounded — 200 — were also mid to senior enlisted troops, 85 were officers and 80 were junior enlisted service members.

The current death toll remains at 13 service members killed in combat.

Palestinian Muslims attend Friday prayers outside Jerusalem's Old City due to restrictions linked to the Iran war, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Tamara and her sister Amal color pictures on the floor as their parents, Sara and Ahmed, who fled their village of Khiyam in southern Lebanon due to Israeli bombardment, sit inside a tent used as a shelter in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Mohammad Qubaisi, 53, with burn wounds from an Israeli airstrike on southern Lebanon undergoes surgery by Dr. Mohammed Ziara, left, and his team, at the Sidon Government Hospital in Sidon, Lebanon, Thursday, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

A bridge struck by U.S. airstrikes on Thursday is seen in the town of Karaj, west of Tehran, Iran, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

FILE - An F-15E Strike Eagle turns toward the Panamint range over Death Valley National Park, Calif., on Feb. 27, 2017. (AP Photo/Ben Margot, File)