Pres. Lee urges fair selection of sci-biz belt location

President Lee Myung-bak urged Tuesday fair selection of the site for a proposed science business belt.

In his roundtable talk for the new year called "A Dialogue with the President, 2011 Republic of Korea," he said, "Since a science business belt is a 100-year national plan, we must allow scientists to think from their perspective to make a fair decision."

A heated national debate is raging over the proposed location of the belt.

An expert on the panel asked, "Are we starting from ground zero?," to which President Lee answered, "It remains the same. A selection committee (to be launched after April 5 when the Special Act on the Science Belt under the Prime Minister`s Office) will make a fair selection. I believe this will rather help the residents of the Chungcheong provinces."

This comment was interpreted as breaking his presidential pledge of building the science business belt in the Chungcheong region, but presidential spokeswoman Kim Hee-jung said after the talk, "He`s not canceling his promise. He wants to make a rational selection."

On a proposed constitutional amendment, President Lee said, "If the ruling and opposition parties put their heads together, we can address the constitutional amendment issue because we`ve worked on this since the 17th National Assembly," adding, "It`s not late (to amend the Constitution). If we amend it, it`ll be somewhat late but this year will be fine."

Turning to inter-Korean relations, he said, "Regardless of six-party or inter-Korean talks, North Korea should change its attitude to make progress. If necessary, we could hold (an inter-Korean) summit."

On a meeting between the leaders of the ruling and opposition parties, President Lee said, "Since it`s the beginning of the year, I think I need to meet (main opposition Democratic Party leader Sohn Hak-kyu)."

The chief executive also expressed opposition for raising welfare spending, saying, "Increasing welfare programs for the rich is inappropriate at the moment and not right for a country that spends a lot on defense."

On the possibility of lowering the oil tax, he said, "That`s also included (in our measures)."

On controlling the spread of foot-and-mouth disease, he said, "Our initial response was not properly made. I think we could`ve done things a bit more perfectly in the beginning."

yongari@donga.com