Governing Camp Divided Over Sejong City
By Na Jeong-ju
Staff Reporter
A group of 12 lawmakers pushing for an early implementation of regional development projects urged the administration Wednesday to scrap its plan to provide tax benefits to firms seeking to relocate to Sejong City in South Chungcheong Province.
They alleged in a statement that the government's plan to build a science business belt on the site instead of the originally planned administrative town would discourage firms from making investments in other regions.
The group includes some lawmakers of the governing Grand National Party (GNP) affiliated with the party's former Chairwoman Rep. Park Geun-hye. They are Yoo Seong-min, Choi Gu-sik and Suh Byung-soo.
Many firms which had been considering building plants in other industrial cities are changing their plans due to the proposed tax benefits and other preferential policies for Sejong City, the statement said.
"The administration should treat Sejong City equally with other envisioned industrial cities in imposing corporate taxes. Otherwise, it will be impossible to promote balanced regional development."
The protest came as President Lee Myung-bak and Prime Minister Chung Un-chan are stepping up efforts to muster public support for the revision of the Sejong project.
Opposition parties and Rep. Park have opposed the revision, but President Lee made it clear in an address to the nation last week that his government has scrapped the administrative town project.
The minor opposition Liberty Forward Party, whose political stronghold is the Chungcheong provinces, threatened that all of its lawmakers would give up their National Assembly seats unless the government drops the revision plan. Civic groups in the provinces are also moving to stage joint anti-Lee protests.
In the face of worsening public sentiment, the governing party is showing signs of a division between different political factions.
"We cannot push for the revision if it is not backed by people in the Chungcheong provinces," GNP spokeswoman Rep. Cho Yoon-sun said in a radio program Wednesday.
Some junior lawmakers called on the GNP leadership to drop the revision plan and pursue the administrative town project as initially planned.
Cheong Wa Dae, however, said the revision was inevitable.
"There is no change in our stance that we will find better development plans for Sejong," presidential spokesman Park Sun-kyu told reporters. "Society needs to wait patiently until the government unveils a master plan on the development of Sejong this month."
Prime Minister Chung has met with business leaders and corporate CEOs in an apparent bid to attract their investment to the envisioned project.
Sources said the administration was seeking a revision of laws to transform Sejong City into a self-sufficient and multi-functional industrial city such as Changwon or Gumi.