By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
A group of Grand National Party (GNP) lawmakers announced Sunday they would seek steps aimed at removing regulatory measures imposed on industries located in Seoul and its surrounding area.
The move met a backlash from the largest opposition Democratic Party (DP) as well as the conservative minor Liberty Forward Party (LFP), which pledged to campaign against any legislation.
The opposition parties claim the bills will only benefit businesses in the capital and adjacent regions, while leaving businesses in other provinces behind.
GNP lawmaker Cha Myeong-jin, whose electoral district is in Gyeonggi Province, told reporters that he, along with his fellow ruling party lawmakers, will submit two bills to the National Assembly next week.
One aims at abrogating a current law, which imposes a set of regulations on existing businesses in Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon City that aim to get investors to look to the provinces for new business operations.
The other will allow governors to have a greater say in decision-making on land development plans.
``The current regulation-ridden law for the three regions is simply retroactive in an era of globalization, as investors and factories are moving out of Seoul and its adjacent areas because of it,'' Cha said.
Rep. Cha, who was a former aide to incumbent Gyeonggi Province Governor Kim Moon-soo when Kim served as a GNP lawmaker, repeated the position that his former boss made.
Earlier, Governor Kim, a strong advocate of business-friendly Gyeonggi Province, called on the central government to take bold action for deregulation, arguing the current law repels foreign investors.
GNP lawmakers from Seoul and its adjacent regions share the view with Kim and Cha that policy support for deregulation was needed to set a business-friendly climate in place.
However, DP Chairman Chung Sye-kyun accused President Lee Myung-bak of reversing his campaign pledge for equal nationwide development.
``Lee pledged that he would slow down plans to seek measures for deregulation in Seoul and its vicinity, and would focus on helping ailing local economies recover for the time being,'' Chung said.
``Now he dumps his pledge and makes clear that his government will remove regulatory measures to benefit only the capital and its neighboring regions,'' he said.
Chung was referring to the Oct. 30 announcement regarding the plan to ease regulations in Seoul and its neighboring regions, unveiled by the National Competitiveness Committee and other government ministries.
The conservative LFP said the plan to seek deregulation-oriented bills for Seoul and its adjacent regions is against the Constitution, which makes clear the role of government in achieving equal development.
Meanwhile, other GNP lawmakers and governors and mayors from Chungcheon, Jeolla, Gangwon and Gyeongsang provinces are also angry about the plan, saying it ignores their needs.