Roh Pledges to Move Administrative Capital

Roh Moo-hyun, presidential candidate of the Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) said that he would be elected as the nations president in December by all means in order to reform the corruption-laden society. He made the remarks in his speech marking the official launch of his election campaign committee, which was held yesterday in front of the MDP headquarters in Yoido.

In his speech, Roh said that he would build the administrative capital in the Chungchong region and move the presidential office of Chong Wa Dae and government ministries to the area in a bid to prevent the further concentration to the Metropolitan area and to fundamentally address the dilapidated local economy.

Roh is said to keep Daejeon in mind as a candidate administrative capital.

56 out of total 112 MDP lawmakers participated in the election campaign committee. Supreme councilor Chung Dae-chul, party advisors Cho Soon-hyoung and Chung Dong-young were appointed the co-chair of the committee.

Regarding Roh`s pledge to establish the administrative capital in the Chungchong area, Lee Hoi-chang, presidential candidate of the Grand National Party (GNP) and Independent presidential candidate Chung Mong-jun expressed skepticism, saying that it was not an imminent issue and needed a public consensus. Meanwhile Kwon Young-gil, presidential candidate of the Democratic Labor Party said that not only the administrative function but also other functions should be distributed to various regions.

Jeong-Hun Kim jnghn@donga.com