A political hot potato

Calm, mild-mannered and balanced, Chung Un-chan has been remote from political controversy.

His centrist views have been respected by both conservatives and liberals. The renowned economist was courted by both camps in every recent major election and government reshuffle.

The prime minister nominee is now at the center of a political storm. Immediately after his nomination early this month, he squarely grasped a political hot potato - a colossal project to build a new administrative city 160 kilometers south of Seoul.

Few in government have dared to challenge the so-called Sejong City plan with its lofty rationale of balanced development, sunken costs of 5.37 trillion won ($4.45 billion), and above all inflated hopes of local constituency which holds a casting vote in presidential election.

President Lee Myung-bak, once the most vehement opponent, reversed his position during the presidential campaign in 2007 and promised to make it a "high-class, high-tech city." As recently as June, he professed that the 22.5 trillion won plan would go ahead.

The Grand National Party initially objected the Sejong plan when it was proposed in 2003. But party leaders grudgingly accepted it in 2005 ahead of national elections and have since never been formally opposed, mindful of possible damage to their political fortune.



Neither did the ruling camp do much to move the plan forward. The government continuously delayed necessary procedures, drawing criticism from its promoters for engaging in a rear-guard action. Only a few lawmakers and local government chiefs affiliated with the GNP explicitly demanded its cancellation.

It was Chung, the economist, who flung the controversy to the forefront.

Just after nomination, he told reporters that the Sejong plan was "not an efficient policy when viewed from the eyes of an economist."

After his remarks, more than 1,200 senior scholars, former officials and politicians including three former prime ministers gave a statement calling for the revision of the plan, which they castigated as a product of political collusion.

The theme figured prominently at the parliamentary confirmation hearing for the premier nominee yesterday.

"I think there will be an administrative inefficiency," Chung told the hearing committee.

Cha Myung-jin of the GNP, one of a few explicit opponents to the plan, asked Chung to elaborate on the inefficiency.

"When administrative bodies are divided, ministers, vice ministers and many officials have to move from one place to another and it is inefficient. Documents must also," Chung said.

He pledged to promptly make an efficient plan to develop Sejong into a self-sufficient city.

Chung has never made it clear whether he thinks the administrative city plan should be dropped, replaced or complemented.

Under the current plan established by former President Roh Moo-hyun, two-thirds of the central government`s offices and hundreds of small and large public organizations will relocate to the Yeongi-Gongju area in the South Chungcheong Province.

Outspoken opponents in the GNP including Cha and Gyeonggi Governor Kim Moo-soo demanded the plan be cancelled and replaced with a new plan to build a city of education, science and high-tech industry.

"The dispersed government bodies will hurt its functional efficiency and are especially dangerous in case of a national emergency like a war," Cha said.

They are also concerned that Sejong may become an isolated administrative town without sufficient facilities for living.

The plan envisions that 10,000 public servants and their families will move to the city and it will eventually grow into a city with a population of 500,000 when related industries and facilities are in place.

But the GNP cites a survey that showed a majority of government officials will have their families continue to live in Seoul for economic, educational and other reasons. Instead they would commute to or live alone in the city.

"It will become a ghost city at night and on weekends," said Kim. "Relocation of administrative institutions do not necessarily develop a region."

He said it will be a repetition of the administrative town of Gwacheon on the outskirts of Seoul. Hotels, restaurants and the commercial towns surrounding the current government complex there are suffering from sluggish business.

The administration and the GNP leadership officially uphold the plan but seek to enhance supplementary measures to make it a self-sufficient city equipped with residential, economic, educational, health and other facilities.

"There is no change to the government position to push the Sejong City plan," Minister of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs Chung Jong-hwan told lawmakers last week. He added the government is studying how to make it a viable city.

But opposition parties and the Chungcheong people suspect that the government and the ruling party are trying to scale down the project, slashing the budget and reducing the number of state organizations listed to move.

News reports said that the central government and the GNP have commissioned a study for an option of moving less government agencies in the city and encouraging companies and universities to relocate to fill the gap. The suspicion was enhanced by Chung`s remark.

Its proponents said the plan has already been determined by the National Assembly and confirmed by two former and incumbent presidents.

An alteration would harm the credibility of the government and will pave the way for reduction and cancellation of other policies for balanced territorial development, they claimed.

As for claims of inefficiency, they said it takes only on hour and a half to commute from Seoul to Sejong, not much longer than between Seoul and Gwacheon. Communications technology also suffices to offset the distance, they said.

Government should find a way to make the city prosper rather than abandoning it thus causing national confusion, they said.

The plan was pushed by the former Roh government as part of its policy to ease excessive concentration in Seoul and balance development across the nation.

The blueprint envisioned that the relocation of government facilities from Seoul and Gwacheon would begin in 2012 and be completed by 2014.

A related law was enacted in 2005 and ground was broken in 2007 to make the drowsy farming villages of Yeonggi and Gongju the nerve center of the administration.

The consolidated area, about half the size of Seoul, got the name Sejong in honor of the greatest king of the medieval Joseon Dynasty.

The largest-ever city construction project in the nation`s modern history, however, has since been adrift due to partisan differences, government inaction as well as conflicting interest among local entities.

The administrative body to govern it, has yet to be launched due to deadlocked legislation for nearly a year.

The planning has further been complicated as local governments in Chungcheong demanded the area be rezoned in differing ways to satisfy their differing interests.

After taking office in 2008, Lee actively pushed his own plan for autonomous development of regions, but remained unclear about the Sejong City plan.

Increasingly anxious Chungcheong people requested that the Ministry of Public Administration and Security establish an ordinance to ensure government relocation and list the organizations for the movement. The ministry has not accept the demand yet.

A proposed basic law for Sejong City has been pending at the National Assembly since last September.

The minority Liberty Forward Party based on Chungcheong submitted the motion in cooperation with the main opposition Democratic Party, which succeeded Roh`s Uri Party.

During past successive sessions, parties failed to narrow their differences over the city`s legal status, the scope of its government`s authority and the reach of its jurisdiction.

(jjhwang@heraldm.com)



By Hwang Jang-jin