Land Equilibrium Development Blueprint to Be Reconsidered

After the Constitutional Court’s verdict that the special law on the construction of the new administrative capital was unconstitutional, it is now unavoidable for the current administration to completely reconsider its “National Land Equilibrium Development Plan,” one of the most prominent government plans.

The plan to construct a new administrative capital in the Chungcheong area was the core of the “National Land Equilibrium Development Plan.” With the precondition of transferring the capital to Chungcheong area, many plans were developed and promoted that were closely related to the transfer, such as plans to relocate public organizations to local areas, futuristic city developments, corporate city planning, and new capital development plans. As a result, many specific development plans will have to be readjusted on a wide scale.

Unavoidable Setbacks in the National Land Equilibrium Development Plan —

The government announced early this year its “New Land Design” plan focusing on the new administrative capital construction in the Chungcheong area.

The plan laid its foundation on changing the current national land structure of capital area centralization into a pi (π) type, a multiple-core distributed type, and a globalized type through constructing the new administrative capital and building innovative clusters.

However, the court’s verdict is forcing a situation in which completely revising these basic strategic frameworks for the National Land Equilibrium Development Plan seems unavoidable.

The Ministry of Commerce, Industry, and Energy needs to make substantial partial revisions in its plan titled: “The First National Land Equilibrium Development Five-year Plan (2004 ~-2008).”

Relocation of Public Organizations to Local Areas—

The government was planning to select 180 to 200 public organizations, including government-invested institutions, to be relocated to local areas and to announce the selected areas around the end of this year.

The government had a plan in mind to construct a “futuristic innovative city” by attracting private company facilities to areas where public organizations with similar qualities will be relocated. The Chungcheong area was excluded from the selection, however, because it was to receive the new administrative capital.

However, the capital relocation plan has been virtually nullified, so the Chungcheong area now has a chance in the selection process along with other areas.

It is likely that the government will either reconsider the public organization relocation in fundamental way or include the Chungcheong area as part of the selection area.

Corporate City—

Corporate city planning implies that private companies, rather than the government, will lead local development. For this purpose, the government and the Uri Party have passed a related bill in the National Assembly and were planning to select about two model cities for the plan.

The conditions have been set to exclude the capital area and the Chungcheong area in selecting the corporate city area. However, the companies prioritized the capital area to be selected as their base corporate city, and if that is not possible, they said they preferred the Chungcheong area since it was easily accessible to the capital area from there.

Because the new administrative capital construction plan in the Chungcheong area has gone awry, it is an issue of interest for companies and local governments whether the Chungcheong area will be included in the corporate city selection process.

New Capital Area Development Planning—

Since the new administrative capital construction plan has undergone enormous obstructions, the new capital area plan, which originally planned to cover up the competitiveness vacancy caused by the relocation and to relieve the complaints of capital area residents, has lost its meaning.

The new capital area plan has de-regulation plans to strengthen the area’s competitiveness, including plans to develop Seoul into the “financial and international business hub of Northeast Asia,” Incheon into the “transportation and logistics center of Northeast Asia,” and Gyeonggi into a “Mecca of high-tech knowledge-based industry.”

Kwang-Hyun Kim Chi-Young Shin kkh@donga.com higgledy@donga.com