Committee backs proposed change in Sejong outline
Published: 30 Nov. 2009, 22:25
Song Suk-ku, co-head of the committee for Sejong City, explains the project’s revised blueprint. [NEWSIS]
After having its third meeting, the committee that consists of government officials and leaders from the private sector said having a science and business belt will help residents of the city in South Chungcheong find ways to make a living. It’s what the committee defines as “self-sufficiency.”
“We have decided to seriously review forming a science and business belt as one of the options for developing Sejong City,” said Song Suk-ku, co-head of the committee with Prime Minister Chung Un-chan and president of Gachon University of Medicine and Science. “We have yet to agree on specifics.”
Song said the committee will officially propose the blueprint to President Lee Myung-bak and “do its best” to finalize the blueprint by the end of this year, at the latest.
Under the proposal yesterday, the belt would accommodate 50 research centers with some 3,000 researchers in basic science and nuclear power generation. If the government spends 3.54 trillion won ($3.04 billion) by 2015, the committee predicts an estimated 212.7 trillion won worth of goods and services will have been produced. The government has set aside 22 trillion won for the Sejong project.
Given its proximity to Daedeok, Osong, and Ochang, which respectively specialize in basic scientific research, biotechnology and science, Sejong is expected to have a synergistic effect, the committee said, citing reports from the state-run Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements.
The think tank took Germany’s Dresden and Research Triangle Park in North Carolina in the United States as successful models.
Should the plan to build the belt be accepted, the original development plan for the city - an administrative capital with nine ministries and other government institutions - is highly likely be nullified or minimized.
The committee said members reviewed recent research on “analysis of problems caused by dispersion of central administrative institutions,” by the state-run Korea Institute of Public Administration.
But they have yet to reach a final conclusion due to differing opinions on the matter, although “some of the members pointed out some inefficiency that could be caused by administrative relocation,” Song said.
Ahn Sang-soo, floor leader of the ruling Grand National Party, said now it is time for the nation to halt “far-from-beneficial criticism” against modifying the plan and wait for the government’s alternatives.
Opposition parties, on the other hand, made it clear they will continue to insist on adopting the original plan. Leaders of the Democratic Party and Liberty Forward Party held a closed meeting yesterday to discuss the issue and have decided to hold a large-scale outdoor protest against the government.
Meanwhile, pro-Park lawmakers in the ruling Grand National Party sent a negative response to the main opposition party’s offer to join in a move against the government’s revisions.
Chung Sye-kyun, leader of the DP, on Sunday said he wanted the “GNP’s push for redrawing the development blueprint for Sejong [to] end in vain.” He proposed that opposition parties and the pro-Park faction in GNP form an anti-government partnership.
Although Rep. Lee Jung-hyun of the GNP, who has represented the pro-Park group, has not come up with an official stance, the majority of lawmakers who support Park told reporters the idea “doesn’t go with the morality of politics.” Some lawmakers from the faction say the DP’s goal behind the offer was to fan already the existing dispute within the ruling party.
By Seo Ji-eun [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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