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December 02, 2009
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However, most people think that it is necessary to revise the initial plan to relocate government offices to South Chungcheong. President Lee appeared on TV Friday night to apologize to the nation for his flip-flop over Sejong City. He said he had backed the initial plan to win votes ahead of his election to the presidency. The JoongAng Ilbo conducted a telephone survey with 1,010 adults nationwide on Monday. While 43.8 percent of those polled said they sympathize with Lee’s apology and explanation, 50.2 percent said they did not. Six percent said they do not know about the issue or did not reply. Regarding the Sejong City development itself, 39.7 percent said they back the initial plan to create a new governmental administrative hub, while 54.5 percent said Sejong should instead house companies, educational facilities and research institutes. According to the poll, which has 95-percent confidence level with a 3.1 percentage point margin of error, opinions about Sejong City were split among regions and political party preferences. Seoul, Daegu and North Gyeongsang residents agreed with Lee’s views, while residents of Daejeon, Chungcheong, Gwangju and Jeolla disagreed. Grand National backers generally sympathize with Lee, while Democrats and Liberty Forward Party supporters do not. “The Sejong City issue has become nothing more than a mere reflection of the people’s political preference toward the Lee administration,” said Lee Hyun-soo, a political science professor at the Sogang University. “The real substance of the debate was not considered.” While the public may not be weighing the actual essence of the issue, Sejong City was a topic of hot discussion between South Chungcheong Governor Lee Wan-koo and the special committee of the Grand National Party on Sejong City. The committee invited Lee to a breakfast meeting yesterday to listen to South Chungcheong residents’ views. “In Japan, commuting to Tokyo riding the bullet train for one or two hours is common, but Koreans are too narrow-minded about space,” Lee said, in protest of the Lee administration’s argument that the relocation of government offices to Sejong City will result in administrative inefficiencies. Representative Paik Sung-woon replied that “commuting one hour and moving the administration’s function 120 kilometers [74.6 miles] away are different matters. When we think about the nation’s future, we must not split the government functions into two.” Lee argued that administrative inefficiency is only hypothetical, stressing that “the rule of law and trust are values enough for us to try.” He also said “splitting” the capital city would mean the relocation of the Blue House, Supreme Court or the National Assembly, but that is not the proposal. “It is an exaggeration, when only some ministries are moving,” Lee said. Ahead of the meeting with GNP lawmakers, Lee also told journalists that he will think about whether he will keep his governor position or quit in protest over the administration’s decision to revise the Sejong City plan. He said, however, that he will not leave the Grand National Party. “I don’t think the people want me to defect to another party,” he said. “Even though I think differently than the party [on this issue], I have to press my positions and try to persuade the party.” By Shin Chang-woon, Ser Myo-ja [myoja@joongang.co.kr] JoongAng daily Hot issue
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