PM hints at resigning over Sejong plan

By Lee Tae-hoon

Staff reporter

Prime Minister Chung Un-chan hinted at stepping down Wednesday over the failure to have the National Assembly pass a revised bill on the Sejong City development project.

Chung had spearheaded the drive to overhaul the original plan to build an administrative town in South Chungcheong Province since his inauguration in September last year.

"As the architect of the revised plan for Sejong, I will take full responsibility for the failure to win parliamentary endorsement," he said in a televised press conference at the Government Complex in Seoul.

Chung neither specified whether or when he would step down nor took questions from reporters.

Observers, however, say it might not be long before the prime minister leaves his post since he has been under growing pressure from the opposition parties to step down.

Earlier in the day, Woo Sang-ho, spokesman of the main opposition Democratic Party, said the rejection of the bill can be seen as a no-confidence vote in him.

President Lee Myung-bak reportedly declined to accept Chung's resignation, after he expressed his intention to step down over the ruling Grand National Party's defeat in the June 2 local elections.

It remains to be seen whether Chung will be replaced in a reshuffle of Cabinet ministers and senior presidential secretaries, which is expected to take place in July or August.

In a radio address on June 14, President Lee indicated that he would conduct a reshuffle to achieve fresh momentum for the remaining half of his five-year presidency.

Lee is expected to set out the details of the impending shake-up once he returns home from a trip to Canada for the G-20 Summit and visits to Central American nations.

In his remarks, Chung expressed regret over the Assembly's decision to turn down the revision bill, which calls for the completion of the new city as a science and business belt by 2020, 10 years earlier than initially scheduled.

"History will remember it as a prime example where political calculations took priority over the national interest," he said.

Chung also expressed concerns about security vacuum that the original plan may cause in the event of a national emergency.

"The original plan stipulates the president will stay in Seoul, while the prime minister and Cabinet ministers work far away from him in the Chungcheong region," he said. "My consciousness did not let me overlook what was apparently wrong."

Chung, however, added that he will respect the "regretful" decision of the Assembly and will do his best to make Sejong a good city as envisioned.

"Public opinion should not be divided any longer over the issue, and I hope all controversy and feuds will end," he said.

Construction of the administrative town, initiated by former President Roh Moo-hyun and approved by the parliament, began in 2007 to house nine ministries and four government agencies.