Gov't Pushes Ahead with Administrative Capital Relocation

- Yeongi-Gongju now becomes the site for Korea's new administrative capital

The government has officially announced Yeongi-Gongju in South Chungcheong Province as the site for Korea's new administrative capital, solidifying its determination to go ahead with the controversial relocation plan despite rising public opposition.
Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan, also co-chairman of the Presidential Committee on Administrative Capital Relocation (PCACR), said on Aug. 11, "We finally picked Yeongi-Gongju as the new administrative capital site.?Prime Minister Lee made the remark during a news conference he had after the PCACR confirmed the final administrative capital site in its earlier sixth session. Lee's announcement is construed as an expression of the government's strong will to implement the relocation scheme as planned, despite mounting opposition.
The PCACR said Yeongi-Gongju is assessed to be the most excellent among a short-list of four candidate sites, which was put on public notice for a review, in terms of its effect on the nation? balanced development, accesses to the site from abroad and in Korea and environmental impact on the nature.
The Yeongi-Gongju area encompasses Nam-myeon, Dong-myeon, Geumnam-myeon, all in Yeongi County, and part of Janggi-myeon, Gongju City. It measures 21.6 million pyeong or 714,000 hectares in size, and away 10 km from the cities of Daejeon and Cheongju. The Gem River and Miho Stream converges within the region, which has 254-meter-high Wonsu Peak and 260-meter-high Mt. Cheonweol. In particular, the capital site is approximate to the high-speed railway and Cheongju Airport, with its excellent access by such roads and railways as Dangjin-Sangju Expressway, Seoul-Busan Expressway, Seoul-Busan railroad. The location of the site, at the center among Daejeon, South Chungcheong, North Chungcheong areas, is expected to accelerate balanced national development and the people? national integration, the committee said.
As the final choice of the capital site has been made, the committee said the government would lift restrictions, including limitations on land transactions from the three other candidate districts - Nonsan-Gongju, Chincheon-Umseong, and Cheonan.
The PCACR? choice of the final capital site was based on a series of nationwide public hearings that were held in 13 major cities across the nation between July 12 and July 30, and ended with the last lag of the public hearings in Incheon on July 30.
The opposition Grand National Party (GNP) denounced choice of the capital site ?ull and void.? Even though it is against the relocation plan in principle, the opposition party, the GNP is under public criticism for failing to set it own policies on the issue, saying that its official stand would be made public by the end of this year.
The GNP collaborated the parliamentary passage of the law governing the relocation of an administrative capital last year, but changed its mind to put up opposition against the issue. The opposition party, still having the bitter memory of the backlash form its push of the presidential impeached move against President Roh Tae-woo, is dragging its feet on making its position clear in fear of possible criticism by constituents in the Chungcheong area. Political analysts said.
Kim Ahn-jae, co-chairman of the PCACR, made it clear during a forum on the process of mid- and long-term national strategies and tasks the participatory government has implemented, held at the Lotte Hotel in downtown Seoul on June 30 that it is not desirable to put the controversial plan to relocate an administrative capital to a national referendum. The relocation plan obtained a parliamentary approval by an overwhelming majority of lawmakers of the 16th National Assembly with a ratio of 7 to 1 last year and the relevant law stipulating the implementation of the relocation is enforced, he said. Kim also said, ?he executive branch cannot put to a national referendum a law, passed by the National Assembly, and it would amount to an infringement into the representative democratic system, and the government has no choice but to go ahead with the plan until parliament takes any actions.?He was responding to such questions, posed by participants, as ?ecent opinion surveys indicate a majority of respondents favoring a national referendum on the issue and are showing their opposition to the plan.?
Shrugging off the public criticism over the financial burden from the construction of a new administrative capital, Kim explained that the government sector would earmark about 500 billion won or the equivalent to 1 percent of the nation? annual budget for 20 years to shoulder 11.3 trillion won in the project. The relocation plan calls for constructing a new administrative city with a population of 500,000 on an area covering 20 million pyeong (66 million sq. meters) to 25 million pyeong (71.5 million sq. meters) by 2030 at a cost of 45.6 trillion won. (11.3 trillion won from the government sector and 34.3 trillion won from the private sector).
The PCACR noted the need for relieving Seoul which has already lost a competitive edge compared to other global metropolis, only with traffic concentration costs swelling to 12 trillion won per annum. The committee has selected 85 out of a total of 269 government agencies, subject to relocation, including the presidential office, Cheong Wa Dae, along with public corporation headquarters and other public organizations. It also put on a list of relocation, pending parliamen's approval of the11 organizations, including the National Assembly and the Supreme Court. The site for locating an administrative capital was later tentatively chosen as an area in Yeongi-Gongju in South Chungcheong Province among the shortlist of four candidate sites, announced in June.
A pro and con debate has heated up only after the relocation plan has begun to be implemented in a full-fledged manner in the latest months. The latest surveys also show a majority showing a negative attitude to the relocation plan. Some experts are disputing the relocation plan by raising such problems as increasing the construction cost of the new administrative capital up to a whopping 10-fold as much as the government estimate of 45.6 trillion won. President Roh Moo-hyun presented as one of his campaign pledges during the 2002 presidential election a plan to relocate an administrative capital, which turned out to serve as a leading role in garnering support from the Chungcheong election districts. President Roh won the razor-thin victory over opposition Grand National Party (GNP) candidate Lee Hoi-chang. The GNP, which supported the passage of the government bill on the relocation as a majority party of the 16th National Assembly last year, has changed its mind and launched an offensive against the government's implementation of the relocation plan. The opposition party reluctantly agreed to back the relocation plan for fear of a possible backlash from the Chungcheong election districts, during the April general polls, which gave the ruling Uri Party a majority party of the 17th and current National Assembly.
The GNPs reversal comes as Seoul Mayor Lee Myung-bak and Gyeonggi Gov. Sohn Hak-kyu have taken the initiative in putting up opposition against the government's relocation plan, citing the hollowing out of Seoul and its surrounding areas. The debate has been extended to the controversy over whether the relocation plan amounts to Cheondo in Korean, or is an ancient Korean version of moving a capital encompassing nearly all government and other functions. Antagonists argue that the relocation plan could hollow Seoul's economic center out, bringing about a plunge in house and land prices, despite the government's stand that Seoul would maintain its status as the economic and business hub of the nation, as do Washington and New York, in the United States. NW