[2025 Sejong Attraction] Travel Guide for Presidential Archives (Updated May)

President Archives and Exhibition located in Sejong city features the history of South Korea's Presidency. It is located near the government complex and huge artificial lake. It is a great place to visit especially for those who are interested to learn history of South Korea's elections and facts about its past presidents. Interestingly it does not feature President Yoon yet. One thing to bear in mind though, it does not seem to be easily accesible by public transport. However, it is free to enter. #southkorea

I took the train from Seoul station to Osong station to visit Sejong. The ride took about 50 minutes. The train was bound for Jinju and stopped at Gwangmyeong station before stopping at Osong station. The economy class seat was so comfortable that I napped almost the whole journey. It was a great train ride experience. Sejong is a small new city that is worth visiting. #seoulstation #ktx ##osongstation #southkorea

This is the Presidential Archives of Sejong Special Self-Governing City, Chungcheongnam-do, Republic of Korea. March 1st Movement and the Birth of the Presidential System The March 1st Movement led to the establishment of the 'Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea' in Shanghai in April 1919. The provisional government set the national title as 'Republic of Korea' and declared a 'democratic republican' political system with three separate powers. In September of that year, domestic and international independence movement forces gathered together to form a new unified provisional government, adopting the presidential system. The provisional government went through changes in the form of government such as the parliamentary cabinet system and the collective leadership system, and served as the representative body of our people and the center of the independence movement for 27 years until liberation. On May 10, 1948, three years after liberation on August 15, 1945, the Constitutional Assembly was formed, and the Constitutional Assembly was promulgated and implemented on July 17. The Constitution consists of 10 chapters and 103 articles including the preamble, and a unicameral National Assembly and a presidential system-centered government system were adopted. Based on the Constitution, the President and Vice President were elected by the National Assembly, and the President's term of office was 4 years and he could be re-elected once. On March 15, 1960, a large-scale protest against the fraudulent election of the 4th President took place and spread nationwide. This was the April 19 Revolution. In response, President Syngman Rhee announced his resignation, and in order to resolve the political situation, the National Assembly promoted the 3rd constitutional amendment centered on the parliamentary cabinet system in June. According to the 3rd constitutional amendment, the cabinet of Prime Minister Jang Myon was established, and Yun Bo-seon was elected as the 4th President through an indirect election at a joint meeting of the National Assembly and the House of Councilors. As a result, the parliamentary cabinet system was implemented for the first time in the constitutional history of our country. In 1952, a new constitutional amendment was adopted that mixed and extracted the government's amendment that focused on the direct presidential election and bicameral system and the National Assembly's amendment that focused on the cabinet responsibility system and unicameral National Assembly. The first constitutional amendment, also known as the excerpted constitutional amendment, strengthened both the presidential system and the parliamentary cabinet system, including the direct election of the president and vice president and the formation of a bicameral National Assembly. After that, in 1954, the second constitutional amendment, known as the 'Sasa-Oip Constitution', abolished the provision on the limitation of the president's term of office, abolished the prime minister system, and reduced the elements of the parliamentary cabinet system, strengthening the presidential system. In October 1972, the National Assembly was dissolved through martial law, and the constitutional amendment passed by the emergency cabinet meeting was promulgated. The main contents were that the president was elected by the National Conference for Unification through an indirect election and that the term of office was six years and unlimited reappointment was allowed. The seventh constitutional amendment, also known as the 'Yushin Constitution', reduced the functions of the National Assembly while strengthening the status and authority of the president. Afterwards, the new military junta that emerged in the '12:12 Incident' in 1979 maintained the indirect presidential election system through the 8th constitutional amendment, but formed a presidential electoral college to elect the president and made it impossible for him to serve a second term of 7 years. In 1987, the 9th constitutional amendment was made based on the direct presidential election system as a result of the June 10th Democratic Uprising, which expressed the desire of all citizens for democratization. The amendment was made in the direction of limiting the president's powers, such as the single 5-year term of the president, direct presidential election, and the abolition of the right to dissolve the National Assembly, and strengthening the National Assembly's powers, such as the restoration of the National Assembly's right to audit state affairs. In addition, the preamble of the constitution clearly stated the legitimacy of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea, the succession of the democratic ideology of the April 19 Revolution that protested injustice, and the mission of democratic reform of the country. The 13th Presidential Inauguration Preparation Committee was the first to operate a transition committee for the purpose of preparing for the transfer of state affairs and state administration before the inauguration of the president-elect. In 2003, with the enactment of the Act on the Transition of Presidential Office, the basis for the activities of the Presidential Transition Committee was upgraded from a presidential decree to a law. This strengthened the continuity and stability of state administration by clarifying the status and authority of the president-elect and stipulating in law the matters necessary for a smooth transition of the presidential office. #Domestic travel #Travel plans #February travel subsidy event