President`s Sejong apology backfires

President Lee Myung-bak`s apology Friday for his past advocacy of the Sejong City plan took the dispute to new heights, with a stronger backlash from opposition parties and the Chungcheong region.

The main opposition Democratic Party renewed threats to join forces with other parties to block the government`s attempt to rewrite the administrative city plan, criticizing the president for deceiving the people and calling off a national project.

In a nationally televised town hall meeting late Friday, Lee said he is ready to risk political disadvantages, saying he is convinced the revision will be in the best interests of the nation and the Chungcheong region.

Lee stressed that he is opposed to the division of government, and that Sejong City - if built as an administrative town as planned - would be a disaster.

"I am somewhat ashamed, and I regret it when I think of it now," the president said about his pledge during the 2007 presidential campaign to hold fast to the Sejong administrative town plan.

"I feel sorry to the nation and the people of Chungcheong Province for causing such confusion, although revising the plan will benefit them," he said.



DP leader Chung Sye-kyun yesterday vowed a full-fledged fight and called on the president to "stop intensifying national conflict and division."

The Chungcheong-based Liberty Forward Party said all of its 17 legislators will quit the parliament if the revision passes.

Lee Hoi-chang, leader of the LFP, pledged to resist measures to change the plan to relocate two-thirds of government ministries to Sejong.

"The nation cannot go in the right direction if it is ridden by shallow commercialism that values only profit-making," he said in a press conference yesterday, referring to the government`s claim that Sejong should be economically self-sustaining.

"It is true that political attempts to win votes from the Chungcheong region motivated the legislation on the administrative town, but the president is wrong in thinking that (the original plan for) Sejong City is a division of the capital."

Lee Hoi-chang said the party is unchanged about its plan to push for dismissal of Prime Minister Chung Un-chan, who started the public debate on the Sejong City relocation plan two months ago by calling it "inefficient."

South Chungcheong Province Governor Lee Wan-koo said the people`s distrust in the government would make it difficult to accept any alternative to the Sejong City plan.

A faction led by Rep. Park Geun-hye within the ruling Grand National Party also reaffirmed its position against altering the relocation plan.

The government has publicly discussed over the past month ways to make Sejong an industrial and educational center, tempting businesses, universities and research institutes with various incentives.

A panel of government officials and private experts led by Prime Minister Chung Un-chan visited the Sejong City site in Yeongi, South Chungcheong Province, on Saturday to hear out the residents there.

Some people threw eggs and empty cans at their bus as it arrived at the government agency overseeing the construction of the new town.

Chung said during a meeting with the residents that "the government has no intention to downsize or scrap the Sejong City plan."

"The government is preparing plans to make Sejong a better city than it is now," he said.

"We aim to develop Sejong City into a cluster of new growth engines that combines science, education, business and green growth to create the utmost synergy effect."

Chung backed the president`s remarks from the previous night, describing them as "honest and persuasive."

In an attempt to overcome the backlash, the government and the ruling party will hold a series of meetings, seminars and public hearings.

(sophie@heraldm.com)



By Kim So-hyun