Referendum Needed To Hasten Capital Relocation Process

Kim, An-Jae, Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Administrative Capital Relocation, offered his opposition on June 9 to holding a referendum in order to see if the general public agrees on the administrative capital relocation.

In a forum hosted by the “Blue Policy Research Meeting,” which was organized by Grand National Party centrists, he argued, “I once urged that the relocation should be decided through a referendum in an effort to gather public support on that matter. However, it is too late to call the vote since the referendum should have taken place before the National Assembly passed the Act on Special Measures for Construction of the New Administrative Capital.”

“We should have voted on the matter before the law was enacted,” Mr. Kim added. “If people had voted for the move, the relocation pledge would have gained more strength. If they had voted against it, we could have just scraped the project.”

He agreed with the GNP’s claim that the term ”Capital Relocation” should be changed to “the Transfer of the Capital,” saying, “only if both the National Assembly and the Constitutional Court are moved to the new site. Since the law was passed by a vote of 9 to 1 in the Assembly last year, the term ‘relocation’ would be correct.” The government official’s remark in accordance with the opposition’s view is expected to fan more controversy over the relocation issue.

“I have heard that some people are planning to file a constitutional petition against the capital relocation act. I wish that the Constitutional Court would pursue the case and come up with a swift ruling,” said the Chairman of the state agency, adding that he wanted official recognition of the legality of the matter.

“Upon the passage of the special law, parliamentary support is needed to hasten the process of the relocation,” he urged.

Yeon-Wook Jung jyw11@donga.com