Final Site for New Administrative Capital Announced

Final Site for New Administrative Capital Announced. August. 11, 2004 21:51. by Kwang-Hyun Kim kkh@donga.com.

The government announced on Wednesday the final site for the new administrative capital as Yongi and Gongju in South Chungcheong Province. There still, however, remain many procedures to be completed before the capital is in fact moved.

One of the most pending problems is the petition to the constitution. On July 12, a group of 169 petitioners, including 58 Seoul Metropolitan City legislators filed a petition to the constitution to review the legitimacy of the Special Law for New Administrative Capital Development. The petition included a request for a provisional disposition to stop activities of the New Administrative Capital Development Committee

The period for the Constitutional Court to examine a case is no more than 180 days. However, this is not a requirement. Considering the importance and the urgency of this issue, its decision is expected to be made no later than early January of next year. Usually, a decision on a provisional disposition request is made earlier than the main issue.

If the provisional disposition request is approved, all the activities of the new administrative capital transfer should be stopped. The expected sites of expropriation for the new administrative capital were originally scheduled to be announced at the end of this year. However, the plan now needs to be adjusted. Government activities for the new administrative capital transfer will, of course, go back to their starting point if the court decides the special law is a violation of the constitution.

If the petition and the provisional disposition request are rejected, full-scale construction on the new administrative capital is expected to begin in late 2007.

Another factor influencing capital transfer is the presidential election in late 2007. If a candidate against the capital transfer is elected, there is the possibility that all the work, including planned work, up until that point may become “completely blank paper.”

Therefore, many experts are saying that it is necessary to confirm whether to transfer the capital or not through a referendum first, before proceeding with any further work. They say that only by doing so will the capital movement issue not shake the next presidential election and can we save significant social and financial costs in advance.