Roh Stresses Long-Term Policy Merits
By Kim Yon-se
Staff Reporter
President Roh Moo-hyun renewed his call Wednesday for balanced regional development, one of his government's major policy goals.
In his speech to mark the groundbreaking for the renovated Jinju City in South Gyeongsang Province, Roh expressed regrets over his five-year tenure which ends next February.
Roh said he felt uneasy about criticism that the government's development plans fell short of the expectations of provincial leaders and some lawmakers.
He said he hopes that the second package of bills for balanced regional development passes the National Assembly before his term expires. Under the Constitution, he is banned from seeking reelection.
He said the bills faced hurdles for implementation due to ``some groups with shortsightedness (seeking immediate gains).''
Mentioning the value of the plan, he said some groups are not acquainted with the vast and long-term merits of the policy.
Roh downplayed the critics' estimation that the incumbent administration failed to raise the ratio of the regional budgets to national budget, which stayed at 25 percent.
``Taking the budget sent to the provinces out of the national budget into consideration, the ratio reaches 150 percent,'' he said. ``A representative case is the comprehensive real estate tax, which is distributed to provinces as an element of the national budget.''
He cited the example in South Gyeongsang Province, saying that 99.1 billion won of the national tax was allotted to the region while the province's own comprehensive real estate tax reached 13.3 billion won last year.
In September, Roh expressed concerns that his policy for balanced regional development would be stopped if Lee Myung-bak, the standard-bearer of the main opposition Grand National Party (GNP), is elected president in the December election.
In Seogwipo, Jeju Province, Roh did not rule out the possibility that disparity between Seoul and provincial cities might widen if the conservative party candidate becomes the next president.