Lee Should Try to Build Consensus on Sejong City

A town hall meeting usually serves as a venue for policymakers to exchange views on various government programs with the public. In this sense, we welcome President Lee Myung-bak's plan to hold such a meeting Friday night to address hot-button issues. More than anything else, Lee is to focus on a controversial government plan to scrap a new administrative town project.

In fact, President Lee is under criticism for hiding behind Prime Minister Chung Un-chan who has been spearheading an attempt to backpedal on the previous government's plan to move nine ministries and four agencies out of Seoul. If he fails to convince the people about the inevitability to shelve the relocation project during the 100-minute meeting to be broadcast live, he could suffer from a political setback.

The scheduled town hall meeting is the third of its kind for President Lee, following the first in September 2008 and the second in January 2009. It is intended to complement his inability to communicate with the public as seen in candlelight rallies against his administration's decision to open the local market wider to U.S. beef imports in April 2008. The Sejong City relocation project may pose the toughest challenge to the Lee administration since the beef crisis.

Against this backdrop, we want to put forward some recommendations to the President in order to help him solve this problem. First, Lee had better start from scratch in his overhaul of the project and decide whether to push on as scheduled or not. The city plan is based on a special law that was passed by the National Assembly in 2005 to relocate some ministries and agencies to the Yeongi-Gongju site in South Chungcheong Province by 2012. Lee's Grand National Party (GNP) endorsed the relocation bill, a pet project of then-President Roh Moo-hyun to promote balanced regional development.

Lee once opposed the relocation when he served as Seoul mayor from 2002 to 2006. But, he switched to supporting it during his presidential campaign in 2007 in a bid to woo voters in the province. Even after his inauguration, he vowed to press ahead with the project. But he has abruptly changed his stance and let the prime minister modify the plan. So, he must give compelling reasons for the change.

Second, Lee is required to offer an apology or at least express regret over his change in position. And then he should humbly listen to complaints from residents of North and South Chungcheong Provinces who are infuriated by the issue. He also has to persuade opposition parties to accept the government move. Besides, it is necessary to narrow differences with a minor GNP faction led by former party chairwoman Park Geun-hye who has repeatedly called for the relocation as originally planned.

Third, Lee should work out an alternative plan that can more than satisfy the residents and opposition parties. His administration is now seeking to build an education, science, research and business complex in Sejong City. For this, it needs to provide incentives to the private sector to ensure the creation of the alternative town. Most of all, the President had better exercise his political leadership to overcome a boiling conflict over the city plan and build a national consensus.