Trial on Capital Relocation to Begin With Appeal Filing

The speculation reports related to the appeal to the a Special Law on the construction of the New Administrative Capital have been finished; Seoul City, Cheong Wa Dae, and the Presidential Committee on Administrative Capital Relocation, respectively, have submitted their reports. The Constitutional Court delivered a notice to the National Assembly to propose its speculation by August 16, but the National Assembly is reportedly known for not presenting its speculation.

Speculation Proposal-

Seoul City delivered its speculation report, which said, “The issue of capital relocation has to be reexamined,” to the Constitutional Court. Seoul Mayor Lee Myung-bak said, “The issue inevitably needs a nationwide referendum,” at an extra meeting on the issue the following day.

According to Seoul City, “The government should not drain national power to achieve the dream of unification, and to grow as the center of the northeastern Asian economy,” adding, “With half of the nation against the capital relocation, it goes against the spirit of the Constitution not referring to national consensus on this significant national policy.”.

On the other hand, Cheong Wa Dae and the Committee on Capital Relocation claimed on the speculation report, delivered through law firm “Taepyeongyang,” that “the infringed basic rights that petitioners are insisting on are not legally supported by the Constitution or they merely belong to secondary interests, so the demandants do not have the rights to file the constitutional petition.”

The speculation by Cheong Wa Dae and the Committee on Capital Relocation are in line with other reports submitted by government institutions such as the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Construction and Transportation.

Now, the attention is geared to the Constitutional Court’s behavior over the conflicting issues between civic groups and Seoul City, and Cheong Wa Dae and government institutions.

Petition Claimants and Seoul City Versus Cheong Wa Dae and the Government-

“The government is infringing on the nation’s basic rights by processing the capital relocation without gathering a national consensus,” said Seoul City, supporting the civic groups who filed the petition. Meanwhile, the government, represented by Cheong Wa Dae and the committee said, “The special law does not infringe any basic rights of the nation, and the capital relocation process is legitimately going on.”

On the issue of basic rights infringement, both sides show totally different opinions.

Capital relocation is “the most important national policy since the foundation of the nation,” so this issue should not be decided by the arbitrary power of the president, and not mobilizing a national referendum is against the spirit of the Constitution, said Seoul City.

However, capital relocation is not an applicable referendum issue that should necessarily belong to a “significant policy concerning national security and welfare,” and holding a national referendum is the president’s decision, even if the issue belongs in the “significant policy” category, said Cheong Wa Dae and the government.

The two sides also have voiced different opinions on whether the government has held proper hearings at the National Assembly and public hearings, and whether the designation of Chungcheong province as a possible new administrative capital is violating the rights of equality or not.

On the issue of the provisional disposition filed by the civic group, the two opposing groups have different perspectives as well.

Also, Seoul City asserted that the irrecoverable damage charge correlates with the activities of the Committee on Capital Relocation. On the other hand, Cheong Wa Dae and the government negated the irrecoverable damage prospects raised by Seoul City, and did not see any reason to hastily accept the provisional disposition.

Prospects-

The Constitutional Court will stop receiving speculation reports on August 16 regardless of the National Assembly’s position. On August 19, the court will hold a judge’s conference and discuss hearing procedures on the capital relocation case. It seems likely that the court is going to primarily discuss whether to accept the provisional disposition on suspending the activity of the Committee for Capital Relocation, and whether to hold a public debate. Then the trial for the capital relocation will proceed around late this month.

Sang-Rok Lee Tae-Hun Hwang myzodan@donga.com beetlez@donga.com