Science Business Belt May Replace Sejong City
By Na Jeong-ju
Staff Reporter
The administration is considering setting up an international business belt housing global science technology firms, universities and institutes on the planned site of Sejong City in South Chungcheong Province, officials said Thursday.
"We are seeking to attract various types of technology companies and organizations to the area to make Sejong City a self-sufficient industrial city," a government source said. "The name of Sejong City can be changed to the Global Science Business Belt, if the proposal is adopted."
The remarks came one day after the administration dropped the initial plan to relocate ministries and government agencies from the capital area to Sejong City, which is now under construction.
Some officials said last week that President Lee Myung-bak has expressed his wish to replace the administrative town with a multi-functional industrial city resembling Ulsan, Changwon or Gumi.
"The new town will be home to scores of firms, schools, hospitals and institutes," the source said. "The government will have to spend over 3.5 trillion won by 2015 to build the science business belt. Our research shows the economic effects the project will produce by 2029 will reach 212 trillion won."
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Chung Un-chan, announcing the government's decision to change the Sejong City project, said he will come up with a finalized alternative development plan in January.
Opposition parties as well as some political factions of the governing Grand National Party (GNP) strongly protested the move, saying it is absurd for the government to change the original project, which was approved by the National Assembly in 2005.
During an interpellation session at the National Assembly, Rep. Lee Ju-young of the ruling GNP said Prime Minister Chung is unprecedentedly empowered by President Lee to oversee the controversial but crucial project.
"Some say Chung spearheading the major domestic agenda is an indication that the semi-presidential system is underway, because his overseeing the major project would help President Lee focus on foreign affairs without distraction," the lawmaker said.
Rep. Park Byeong-seug of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) criticized Chung for his remark that the original master plan was ineffective and insufficient.
"Almost all experts from all walks of life in the nation, including urban planners, policymakers and researchers, met more than one hundred times. Hearings took place 65 times before the master plan was made," Park said.
"If that plan, which was the outcome of those meetings and hearings, was considered insufficient, what plans on Earth are to be regarded as sufficient and effective?"
Rep. Chung Jin-suk of the GNP was skeptical about the probability of plans to overhaul the original project getting approved by the National Assembly.
About 50 ruling party lawmakers are followers of Rep. Park Geun-hye, the former GNP chairwoman who opposed the ruling camp's move to change the project.
Accordingly, it could be difficult for the ruling party, which now controls 169 of 299 National Assembly seats, to approve the new plan without pro-Park lawmakers' cooperation.
The former chairwoman led the GNP when the relocation plan was passed in the legislature. She has stood firm on the original master plan.
The prime minister said that many research papers that reviewed the feasibility and effectiveness of the relocation plan were available so it would not take a long time for policymakers to finalize an alternative plan.