Yeongi-Gonju Still a Candidate for the New Administrative Capital

Minister of Construction and Transportation Kang Dong-suk assured on Friday, “Yeongi-Gonju in South Chungcheong Province is still a candidate for the new administrative capital, and this will never change.”

At the National Assembly`s construction and transportation committee meeting on Friday, the construction minister explained his previous day’s remark, saying, “’Zero-base’ means the government has not come up with any countermeasure.” On the day before, he uttered, “Now that the capital relocation project was thwarted, follow-up measures will be zero-based.”

He added, “Since Yeongi-Gonju was selected according to the results of experts’ careful, year-long research, any alternative would not be able to change the decision. In order to equip those areas as self-sufficient cities, the size of those areas would be appropriate.”

As for land expropriation for Yeongi-Gonju, Kang said, “It is hard to expropriate land without a legal basis. Basically, land expropriation is a due process as long as we utilize the area as an alternative.”

The minister’s remark is expected to create another controversy. His remark came out while an official alternative is being prepared by a committee (led by the co-chair of the prime minister and a civil representative) that was launched after the Special Law on the Construction of the New Administrative Capital was found to be unconstitutional.

Kwang-Hyun Kim kkh@donga.com