Gov't to announce legislation plan for Sejong City

SEOUL, Jan. 25 (Yonhap) -- The government and the ruling party were set to
officially announce their plan to submit a revision bill to the National Assembly
to build a "business and science hub" in the country's central region, officials
said Monday.

The government is moving to reverse an initiative by the previous administration
to relocate a number of key government bodies to Sejong City in South Chungcheong
Province, some 150 kilometers south of Seoul.
Under the proposed revision, the new city would be turned into a business and
science hub instead of an administrative town, with several leading South Korean
conglomerates already having agreed to set up operations there.
The decision to notify the public of the legislative revision was made during a
meeting on Sunday between Prime Minister Chung Un-chan, Chung Mong-joon, chairman
of the ruling Grand National Party (GNP) and the president's chief of staff,
Chung Jung-gil, officials at the prime minister's office said.
The announcement on the revision will exclude the previous plan's clauses
stipulating relocation of key government bodies to Sejong City, and include new
initiatives to promote business activities in the area.
Four South Korean conglomerates have tentatively agreed to invest 4.38 trillion
won (US$3.87 billion) in building manufacturing and research facilities in Sejong
City. The city is named after the inventor of the Korean alphabet, King Sejong,
of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910).
After Wednesday's announcement, the Cabinet is expected to endorse the bill and
deliver it to the National Assembly within 20 days.
The decision to scrap the original plan has caused a political uproar among
opposition parties, Chungcheong residents and even a minor faction within the GNP
that is loyal to Park Geun-hye, a former presidential contender who ran
unsuccessfully in 2007 against Lee Myung-bak for the presidential nomination.
"If the government submits the bill despite repeated warnings to withdraw it, our
party will regard it as a declaration of war against the people and opposition
parties," Woo Sang-ho, spokesman for the main opposition Democratic Party said
Sunday.
The GNP's Lee Jung-hyun, a confidant of Park, also said in a statement that "the
cost of losing the people's faith from scrapping the original promise will be
astronomical and faith, once lost, will be impossible to restore."
odissy@yna.co.kr
(END)

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