GNP Fails To Unite Over Capital Relocation

The Grand National Party (GNP) was scheduled to unite its position over the controversial capital relocation plan yesterday, but failed to reach a compromise and prolonged the announcement of its official position until after the Chuseok holidays.

At a general meeting of GNP members, which was organized by the GNP’s Policy Planning Committee with the purpose of coming up with alternatives to the capital relocation plan, some members, especially from Seoul and its adjacent areas, rejected the draft, saying that it was not fully based on the party members’ opinions. The GNP, thus, failed to present a united position over the capital relocation and consequently, GNP leader Park Geun-hye’s news conferences, which were slated to open right after the meeting, were cancelled.

As a result, the standoff has seriously damaged Park’s leadership because Park’s promise that the party’s official position would be announced before the Chuseok holidays was broken. On top of that, because the minority within the party that had been calling for a complete stop to the capital relocation is expected to ramp up its resistance against the party’s leadership, frictions between these two groups are highly likely to escalate once again.

Meanwhile, according to the draft unofficially released by the GNP’s Policy Planning Committee, while major government organizations like Cheong Wa Dae, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Ministry of National Defense, and the Ministry of Unification remain in Seoul, another seven departments including the Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Science and Technology will leave for the new administrative capital in Chungcheong province. In addition, it includes a special plan for the development of five metropolitan areas including Seoul, Honam, Chungcheong, and Yeongnam, and suggests a program to develop the nation as a hub of transportation by connecting the East Sea, the West Sea, and the South Sea with U-shaped transport links.

“The capital relocation costs 22 trillion won, which is much less than the government’s estimate,” said Choi Kyeong-hwan, executive secretary of the Special Committee for Capital Relocation, on the same day. However, the majority of party members were critical, saying, “We need to gather more opinions from party members in advance and, furthermore, the draft doesn’t seem trustworthy.”

Yeon-Wook Jung jyw11@donga.com