Dark Future of Sejong City
By Sah Dong-seok
Deputy Managing Editor
The term ``Sejong'' is usually attached to grand, positive and forward-looking objects such as universities, roads and cultural centers. This practice is seen as an intention to give dignity and grace by borrowing the word from Sejong the Great, the fourth king of the Joseon Kingdom who is remembered best for creating hangeul, the Korean alphabet.
The word has been adopted as the name of a newly built administrative town to which officials from central government agencies in Seoul and Gwacheon will begin to move in 2012. Despite its good name, however, Sejong City, which had been conceived out of political logic, may turn into a national disaster.
The National Assembly Public Administration and Security Committee was due to pass the bill on Sejong City last week but the planned meeting was called off as the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) took issue with the passage of the bill at the relevant subcommittee in its absence.
Partisan positions on the issue are confusing. The governing Grand National Party (GNP) had been lukewarm toward the project championed by the late former President Roh Moo-hyun and his progressive administration, but changed its position after taking power, apparently conscious of the forthcoming elections. The DP, the former ruling party, is sticking with Sejong City, which it claims would be most effective in mitigating the population concentration in metropolitan Seoul and its vicinity and attaining the country's balanced development. The minor opposition Liberal Forward Party (LFP) is adamant on the relocation of government units to Gongju and Yeongi, South Chungcheong Province, its power base.
With rival parties engaging in political gambits and the Assembly crippled amid fierce confrontation, there has been little debate on the feasibility of the project that calls for creating a new city with a population of 500,000 over a tract of about 296 square kilometers, half of Seoul's size, at a cost of 22.5 trillion won ($18.4 billion). Ironically enough, the cost is similar to the amount earmarked for revamping the nation's four major rivers.
The Sejong City bill is expected to be deliberated in the regular session of the National Assembly opening in September. Yet fears are mounting that both the ruling and opposition parties could give the go-ahead to the bill without proper deliberation, capitalizing on their own political gains. As things stand now, the GNP has no other alternative but to cast yes votes because of possible fiery protests in the Chungcheong region and the local elections scheduled for next June. The opposition parties are also in no position to put brakes on the bill. Rather, they are expected to move actively to speed up the project.
President Lee Myung-bak, who had been a vocal critic of the administrative town project as Seoul mayor, appears to have already lost power to halt the Sejong City train following last year's candlelight vigils and this year's suicide of a former president. Former GNP Chairwoman Park Geun-hye is of the opinion that Sejong City should go on as planned in consideration of the 2012 presidential election.
Skeptics raise fears that the new administrative city may open as a ghost town with much of its space empty. Under the current plan, 12,000 officials from 13 ministries and agencies are supposed to move into Sejong City. Even on the assumption that all of their families will move there together, the number of residents will remain 50,000 at most, falling far short of the target of 500,000. But this outlook seems overly optimistic, given that many officials in the existing third government complex in Daejeon live as ``wild geese'' separated from their families due to the education of their children. Even if private companies and think tanks were lured into the city, it would be very hard to create a ``self-sufficient'' city with 500,000 inhabitants.
Administrative inefficiency is also cited as another serious problem. The blueprint envisions retaining Cheong Wa Dae, the presidential office, the National Assembly, judiciary units and some ministries in Seoul but most administrative agencies are to be relocated. In that case, officials will have to waste time and money coming and going from Seoul to Sejong City.
Last but not least, it would be absurd and anachronistic to build an artificial city for civil servants with tens of trillions of won in this era of information technology and unbound global competition. The government has already spent more than 7 trillion won on land and buildings, city planning and construction work, and time is running out.
The solution to this bottleneck would be to give Sejong City a bigger present. Some experts propose promoting the designated area as a comprehensive city encompassing education, science and industry, rather than relocating administrative units. Specifically, exceptional incentives could be given to schools such as Seoul National University and businesses such as Samsung, and this change will give a bigger economic boost to Chungcheong residents.
What is needed now is President Lee's strong leadership, but given his latest orientation toward populism, this hope would be apt to be a pipe dream.