EDITORIAL from the Korea Times on May 17

Trap of regionalism Parochial interests must not deter national projects The government decided Monday to use the existing science town in Daedeok as the matrix of an international science-business belt. It was the least controversial decision conceivable, especially considering it is all but impossible to reach a conclusion satisfactory to everyone in a matter of conflicting regional interest like this. At stake is nothing less than the nation???s scientific future. The proposed science belt is Korea???s answer to Japan???s RIKEN and Germany???s Max Planck Society, which have produced nine and 19 Nobel laureates in natural science, respectively. Korea has yet to turn out one. As far as this particular issue is concerned, the focus should not be on balanced economic growth among different regions but on maximizing efficiency at a national level from the beginning. The Lee Myung-bak administration must have known this, but mixed up the two completely different policy goals in political calculations. Residents of southeastern Gyeongsang and southwestern Jeolla provinces and their political representatives are now shaving their heads and staging hunger strikes and sit-ins in fierce protest to the government decision to build the science belt in the central South Chungcheong Province. All this started last year when President Lee tried in vain to nullify a plan to build an administrative capital in South Chungcheong, a campaign pledge first made by former President Roh Moo-hyun and succeeded by Lee to win the hearts of the traditionally swing-vote central area. In a vicious circle came another withdrawal of Lee???s pledge a few months ago to build an international airport in Gyeongsang area for reasons of insufficient economic feasibility. Currently, citizens in North Jeolla Province are protesting vehemently against the government???s decision to relocate the state-run Korea Land and Housing Corp. (LH) to South Gyeongsang. Not all of these decisions were wrong but weighed mainly by political interests instead of economic principles, turning the entire country into a huge protest site. Multibillion-dollar national projects are bound to be accompanied by fierce regional competition, as they bring about huge benefits at little regional costs. The seven-year, $4.8-billion science belt is no exception. It is easy to criticize regional self-centeredness, summed up by NIMBY-ism (Not In My Back Yard) in the case of unpleasant facilities and PIMFY-ism (Please In My Front Yard) for more popular projects. But no amount of enlightening campaign would work in front of deals that create thousands of jobs and produce several trillion won in regional GDP. This calls for the need for the government to consider introducing an open bidding formula for major national projects to eliminate controversy on fairness and objectivity in the selection process. The nation also might learn from France???s example, which has made it a rule for regional governments wanting to attract certain facilities to finance most of the project costs with the central government making up the remaining budget requirements. These processes should of course be based on a long-term national blueprint worked out by a supra-partisan committee composed of experts recommended by political parties. All this would go nowhere unless the people are ready to accept the final results and the politicians stop using voters??? regionalism for their own interests.