Administrative capital
Consensus key to success of projects
The National Assembly Tuesday voted down a plan to revise the Sejong City project, which may end months of exhaustive political wrangling and a division of public opinion.
In a 164-105 vote with five abstentions, lawmakers have kept intact the original plan to make Sejong an administrative capital. Nine government ministries and four subsidiary agencies will be relocated to the city by 2030.
About 50 followers of Rep. Park Geun-hye in the governing party cast nay votes, deepening the factional feuding inside the GNP.
It is quite unusual for the governing party to be split over major bills, and this may affect Park's presidential ambitions.
Upon returning from an overseas visit, President Lee Myung-bak plans to conduct a Cabinet reshuffle next month; and Prime Minister Chung Un-chan could face replacement. Chung has been in the nation's second most powerful post since last September.
The rejection also dented the leadership of Lee, who is in the middle of his five-year presidency. In the June 2 local elections, residents of central Chungcheong, where Sejong City is located, voted against GNP candidates.
All lawmakers cast votes according to their "convictions," not along party lines, to create a record of those who backed or opposed the plan.
Chungcheong residents want the Sejong City to become not only an administrative capital but also a science and technology business hub, which was the crux of the revision plan.
The voting will result also affect whether companies, including Samsung, will be able to build hi-tech factories there. Originally they agreed to go along with President Lee's plan to transform the city into a business hub.
The former liberal President Roh Moo-hyun received National Assembly approval in 2005 to create an administrative capital in the city, 150 kilometers south of Seoul, by 2030.
His rationale was to decentralize the crowded Seoul and promote balanced regional development. In South Korea, more than 20 percent of 50 million people live in Seoul and nearby satellite cities. Conservative President Lee sought to convert the city into a science and technology town, which angered the opposition and voters in the central province.
A National Assembly standing committee turned down the revision in a vote last week. Rep. Lim Dong-gyu and 65 pro-Lee faction members in the GNP put the revision bill to a full floor vote at the National Assembly. If 30 lawmakers join hands to call for a floor vote, they can bypass committee decisions.
The opposition Democratic Party and other opposition parties were initially skeptical over the voting, but later decided to participate as non-mainstream GNP lawmakers also opposed the change.