Gov't to announce legislation plan for Sejong City

(ATTN: UPDATES with details of gov't plan, quotes from statement; CHANGES lead,
paras 4-7)
SEOUL, Jan. 25 (Yonhap) -- The government is preparing to submit legal revisions
soon to the National Assembly that would transform a city being built in the
central part of the country into a "business and science hub," the prime
minister's office said Monday.

The administration of President Lee Myung-bak wants to reverse an initiative by
its predecessor to relocate a number of key government offices to Sejong City,
which is under construction in South Chungcheong Province, some 150 kilometers
south of Seoul.
Under the proposed revisions, 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 government has begun legislative proceedings to revise five laws, including
the special law on the construction of an administrative city, to give legal
guarantees to the (new) Sejong City development plan," the office of Prime
Minister Chung Un-chan said in a statement.
Earlier on Sunday, the government agreed with the ruling Grand National Party
(GNP) to notify the public of the legislative revision Wednesday. The agreement
came in a meeting between the prime minster, GNP Chairman Chung Mong-joon and the
president's chief of staff, Chung Jung-gil, officials at Chung's office said.
The revision bills notably include a provision blocking former area residents
from repurchasing land in Sejong City after construction is complete, on the
grounds that it would alter the character of the new city, the prime minister's
office said. They will also include new initiatives to promote business
activities.
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 in about a month.
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 for the 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, said in a statement that "the cost
of losing the people's faith in scrapping the original promise will be
astronomical, and that faith, once lost, will be impossible to restore."
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(END)

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