Main Opposition Party Claims Relocation Plan Invalid


By Yoon Won-sup
Staff Reporter
Yongi-Kongju in South Chungchong Province was officially picked as the site for South Korea’s new administrative capital on Wednesday, promptly adding fuel to a simmering debate on the capital relocation project across the nation.

``We finally selected Yongi-Kongju for the new administrative capital site,’’ Prime Minister Lee Hai-chan, who concurrently heads the Presidential Committee on Administrative Capital Relocation, said in a press conference.

The Yongi-Kongju region, 21.6 million pyong (714,000 hectares) in size and 10 kilometers from the cities of Taejon and Chongju, topped a list of four candidates after a series of public hearings and an evaluation process in which it scored the highest score of 88.96 points, followed by Nonsan-Kongju in a distant second.

``The new capital site was found to be the best among the candidate locations in terms of potential contribution to the nation’s balanced regional development, ease of access and living environment,’’ Lee said.

Now that the final choice of capital site has been unveiled, the government will lift restrictions, including limitations on land transactions, for the three other candidate sites of Nonsan-Kongju, Chinchon-Umsong and Chonan in the Chungchong Provinces.

The government will announce the exact location for the construction of the new capital in the Yongi-Kongju area by the end of the year.

It was quite unusual for the prime minister to make the announcement in person, and Lee’s move is thus seen as an expression of the government’s determination to push ahead with the project despite growing opposition.

``The capital relocation project is a national imperative that should be carried out for Korea’s future,’’ Lee stressed in an apparent bid to silence opponents.

However, controversy is likely to continue in the near future.

The main opposition Grand National party (GNP) claimed the government is unilaterally pushing what it says is an unrealistic plan without public support, pronouncing the plan null and void.

``The government’s announcement concerning the new capital is invalid,’’ Lee Hahn-koo, chief policymaker of the GNP said. ``It is nonsense to call it the execution of law.’’

The GNP said it will finalize its position over the new capital site by early December when the site designation takes legal effect.

Meanwhile, the governing Uri Party welcomed the announcement, saying the new capital will help decentralize the nation and encourage balanced regional development.

``Calls from the opposition to stop the capital relocation plan are tantamount to a demand for a violation of the law,’’ Uri Party chairman Shin Ki-nam said. ``The project should be implemented according to the special law governing it.’’

The law, which was passed last December in the National Assembly to allow the government to relocate the capital out of Seoul, is now in the hands of the Constitutional Court. A group of opponents to the relocation plan filed a complaint with the court to determine whether the law is legal and constitutional last month.

yoonwonsup@koreatimes.co.kr