Migratory Fathers Worried about Children’s Education and Spouse’s Job

“In the present situation, the bureau directors don’t have to worry much about their children’s education with the relocation of the capital because their children are mostly already finished with middle school. However, administrative officials who have working spouses and young children are likely to become separated from the family, and that suffocates me.”

Administrative official A, 36, working at the Ministry of Finance and Economy located at the Gwacheon Government Complex, is worried when he sees his son attending elementary school. That is because by the time the Gwacheon complex is moved to South Chungcheong Province in 2012, his son will be attending high school.

A told his thoughts, “Although I think the father should be home at the time when the son is most sensitive, there is no other alternative, and that is my big concern.”

Department director B, working at the Central Government Complex in Seoul, is also worried because he and his wife, who teaches at a middle school, might become a “weekend couple.”

“There are many fellow junior workers who have working wives, and I often hear them say that their wives are very worried,” said B. “Since moving the capital requires a tremendous budget, we still have to see if it will actually move.”

With the government and the ruling party pushing for the relocation of the capital, government officials are not openly raising opposition because of their social position, but they are suffering on their own.

On the other hand, some are in high hopes of buying their own house and working on their own conditions if the capital moves to South Chungcheong Province. Nevertheless, the problems of children education and double-income families are likely to overwhelm such hopes.

The worries of government workers were shown vividly in a recent survey. According to survey conducted by Seoul Development Institute (SDI) from July 5 to 16, subjecting 208 central government officials working either at the Central or Gwacheon Government Complex, 124 workers or 59.6 percent of respondents were opposed to relocating the capital while 64 workers or 30.8 percent favored moving the capital. 9.6 percent of respondents refused to make their position clear. The SDI announced, “In order to conduct the survey impartially, we asked Sookmyung Women’s University to do the survey.”

The biggest reason why government officials were opposed to the capital moving was as expected: education for their children.

Fifty percent of the officials opposed to relocation cited problems regarding their children’s education, while 43 percent opposed the movement because of problems arising from their family members’ jobs.

If the government complex moves to the new administrative capital, it is expected that the number of “migratory fathers” that move back and forth from Seoul and South Chungcheong will sharply increase, and at the same time other changes will take in the lives of the government official families.

During this survey, only 34.6 percent of the officials answered that the entire family will move to the new capital. The rest, or 65.4 percent, responded that only themselves or a few members of the family would move.