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including the Prime Minister‘s Office

By directing Prime Minister Chung Un-chan on Wednesday to prepare an alternative plan for Sejong City by January 2010, President Lee Myung-bak effectively scrapped the existing plan structured around relocating government offices to the city. Why is the president pushing the abandonment of the original Sejong City Development Plan?

The Cheong Wa Dae (the presidential office in South Korea or Blue House) and Grand National Party (GNP) lawmakers from the pro-Lee Myung-bak camp are claiming that the president’s revisions to the Sejong City Development Plan represent a forward-thinking decision made in consideration of the future of the nation and does not represent a weighing of political benefits. A core Cheong Wa Dae official said, “If you tabulate the political votes, it would be easier to go ahead with the Sejong City Development Plan without proposing any revisions.” The official continued, “The president’s advisers explained this to him, but his convictions are very strong.” The official added, “He made his decision out of a conviction that the original plan is not helpful for the development of the state and Chungcheong Province. There is no other political calculation.”

This conviction, however, also greatly reflects the subjective determination that the relocation of government offices would weaken Seoul’s competitiveness, as indicated when Lee said during his time as mayor of Seoul that he wanted to prevent the relocation of the administrative capital “even if I have to mobilize the military.” A pro-Lee lawmaker said that after the Multi-Functional Administrative City Act passed the National Assembly, President Lee said in rage, “The partitioning of the capital through the relocation of some of the offices is even worse that relocating the entire capital.” The lawmaker added, “But he always felt bad about just equivocating over the Multi-Functional Administrative City Act during the presidential election.”

Another pro-Lee lawmaker said, “The president abandoned his Grand Korean Waterway pledge because of the people’s opposition, but since April, he has been steeling himself to execute revisions to the Sejong City Development Plan at all costs.”

What remains to be seen is whether President Lee’s convictions can become reality through an effort to amend the law, especially as concerns are divided within the ruling party. Song Kwang-ho, a GNP supreme council member and the party’s only lawmaker from the Chungcheong region, criticized the drive to scrap the original Sejong City Development Plan. Song said Wednesday, “A rally was held in South Chungcheong Province to defend the original plan, and core party officials were present, including Grand National Party cooperation committee heads.” Song added, “I am concerned that President Lee may lose momentum in state governance if the GNP is defeated in next year’s local elections due to his efforts to revise the Sejong City law.” Furthermore, analysts say it will currently be impossible to pass a revision plan if it encounters die-hard opposition from opposition parties and some 60 pro-Park Geun-hye lawmakers.

The Cheong Wa Dae and pro-Lee camp, however, do not appear to have anticipated the vehement opposition from Park Geun-hye, the former GNP chairwoman, when they began stoking the fire with Chung’s, then-Prime Minister-designate, remarks about revising the Sejong City Development Plan. One second-term lawmaker from the capital region who is close to the president had expressed confidence in the results of the Oct. by-elections, around the time when arguments for revising the Sejong City Development Plan were presented. “Public opinion has moved over to our side now, hasn’t it?” the lawmaker said at the time. Many pro-Lee lawmakers predicted then that Park would ultimately side with the ruling party as she did with the media legislation, and were found to have been mistaken.

Following Park’s remarks about “the original plan plus alpha,” in which she stated that any changes to the plan should only refer to additions to the original plan, opinions have been clearly divided on the president’s drive for revision. The Cheong Wa Dae and pro-Lee lawmakers believe that the president can turn the tide of public opinion by persuading the people of the merits of a revised plan. A Cheong Wa Dae official said, “There is currently, no presented government alternative, but when a specific plan finally is presented, it will possible to have real debate, and the people of Chungcheong Province will like it as well.”

A senior GNP official from the pro-Lee camp said, “If President Lee apologizes frankly, the public will ultimately stand behind him.” The official also predicted that Park Geun-hye would have to follow along with public opinion as well.　 　

However, some politicians are questioning whether President Lee has other political intentions. A third-term lawmaker from the Yeongnam Region said, “It seems like he intends to confuse people with the Sejong City Development Plan revisions and use that to pass the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project budget in December.”

Meanwhile, some pro-Park lawmakers are saying it seems like an attempt to isolate Park Geun-hye politically by branding her as a factional politician opposed to the president.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]