22 Institutes Invited to New City

By Na Jeong-ju
Staff Reporter

The government plans to attract 22 domestic and foreign institutes to Sejong City as part of efforts to make it a "self-sufficient" city, the Office of the Prime Minister said Monday.

The institutes to be invited to the city include the International Vaccine Institute, the Asia Pacific Center for Theoretical Physics and the Max Planck Society.

The National Fusion Research Institute, the Korea Institute of R&D Human Resources Development and the Korea Institute for Advanced Study will also be invited to set up subsidiaries in Sejong, the office said.

The government also plans to set up 66 kindergartens, 41 primary schools and 21 middle schools in the area based on the projection that it will become a city with a population of 500,000 by 2030.

It will be designated as a so-called Green Business Zone to house firms specialized in environmental technologies, and foreign investors. The firms will be given tax benefits and administrative support, the office said.

"We are discussing various plans to transform Sejong City into an international science business belt housing global institutes and technology firms," said a spokesman from the office.

On Nov. 16, the office launched an ad hoc committee of senior officials and experts from the private sector to map out development plan for Sejong, after the administration dropped the project to construct an administrative town there. A finalized a plan will be made public next month.

The administration is moving to revise the special law on Sejong City, enacted in 2005, to secure legal grounds for tax benefits and land development for firms seeking to move there.

Opposition parties have opposed the government's amendment plan.

President Lee Myung-bak plans to speak to the nation Friday to appeal for support for the plan and address social divisions over the issue, Cheong Wa Dae said.

For his part, Prime Minister Chung Un-chan has met with business leaders to attract investment in Sejong. He said last week that an increasing number of firms supported the government's plan to replace the administrative town with an industrial city and were becoming positive about relocating their offices to Sejong.

Chung and other committee members will visit cities in South Chungcheong Province Thursday to address negative public sentiment toward the amended plan.

jj@koreatimes.co.kr