Prime Minister Chung Un-chan, who has spearheaded the move to redress the Sejong administrative city project, said Wednesday that he would take complete responsibility for the failure to gain parliamentary approval for the revision.
The National Assembly on Tuesday voted down the revision bill, which seeks to scrap the 2005 plan to relocate two-thirds of administration departments to a town in South Chungcheong Province and instead develop it into a center for education, scientific research and high-tech businesses.
“As the one in charge of designing the revision plan, I will take the entire responsibility for the failure” to get the Assembly passage, Chung said in a press conference, stressing that the nation should not be further divided over the issue.
“No matter how good the policy is, it is due to the lack of my ability to enable people to appropriately understand (the revision) and persuade those against it until the end. It is regrettable, but I respect the parliamentary decision”.
He did not elaborate on whether he would resign.
Chung, however, pointed out that Tuesday’s decision will be recorded in history “as a representative case where political interests outweighed the national interests”.
“I keenly realized that even a rightful thing could not materialize if one fails to gain majority support from citizens and climb over the barrier of the real politics. I am afraid about how our history and the future generations will evaluate the decision,” he said.
According to the original plan, “a president will be in Seoul while the prime minister and other ministers will be in the Chungcheong region. When an emergency case occurs, the decision-making process will be slower, leading to a slower response to it. My conscience did not allow me to just sit idly when I knew such clear problems”.
Ever since the former Seoul National University president asserted the need for the revision immediately after he was tapped as prime minister in September last year, fierce wrangling over the Sejong City conundrum persisted among political circles.
Despite strong objections from lawmakers and a faction in the ruling Grand National Party, the Lee Myung-bak administration has pushed for the revision, contending that the plan would cause sizable inefficiency in government operations by dispersing administrative organizations to the province, some 120 kilometers south of Seoul.
Meanwhile, a new dispute over the Sejong City issue has surfaced in the GNP, revealing persistent factional discord once again.
GNP lawmakers loyal to former chairwoman Park Geun-hye said that the original plan itself includes “plus alpha,” a measure to make the city self-sufficient, arguing that it is a matter of the will on the part of the government to make the establishment of the city successful.
However, another group loyal to Lee that the “plus alpha” in the plan is only superficial, arguing that other measures such as tax benefits to attract businesses should be introduced to supplement the plan.
Rep. Kim Moo-sung, the GNP floor leader, called on his party lawmakers to refrain from taking about the “plus alpha” to prevent any further factional division.
“As the Sejong City issue came to a conclusion, we should put an end to the dispute over it,” said Kim during a meeting of senior party members. “For party unity, it is good for us not to talk about the ‘plus alpha’ matter for the time being”.
In the revision bill, there were the government’s promises of the plus alpha, including the designation of the international science and business belt and other tax incentives.
Despite strong objections from lawmakers and a faction in the ruling Grand National Party, the Lee Myung-bak administration has pushed for the revision, contending that the plan would cause sizable inefficiency in government operations by dispersing administrative organizations to the province, some 120 kilometers south of Seoul.
Meanwhile, a new dispute over the Sejong City issue has surfaced in the GNP, revealing persistent factional discord once again.
GNP lawmakers loyal to former chairwoman Park Geun-hye said that the original plan itself includes “plus alpha,” a measure to make the city self-sufficient, arguing that it is a matter of the will on the part of the government to make the establishment of the city successful.
However, another group loyal to Lee that the “plus alpha” in the plan is only superficial, arguing that other measures such as tax benefits to attract businesses should be introduced to supplement the plan.
Rep. Kim Moo-sung, the GNP floor leader, called on his party lawmakers to refrain from taking about the “plus alpha” to prevent any further factional division.
“As the Sejong City issue came to a conclusion, we should put an end to the dispute over it,” said Kim during a meeting of senior party members. “For party unity, it is good for us not to talk about the ‘plus alpha’ matter for the time being”.
In the revision bill, there were the government’s promises of the plus alpha, including the designation of the international science and business belt and other tax incentives.
In response to some ruling party lawmakers arguing that the plus alpha promised in the revision bill will disappear, the main opposition party said it was only an act of “blackmailing” citizens.
“President Lee should carry out the plan as it is as quickly as possible without having any lingering feelings (over the revision bill),” said DP leader Chung Sye-kyun during a meeting of senior party members.
“President Lee should carry out the plan as it is as quickly as possible without having any lingering feelings (over the revision bill),” said DP leader Chung Sye-kyun during a meeting of senior party members.
