“WE MUST start anew the search for balanced national development, and I propose completion of the [Sejong] administrative capital as a solution,” stated Kim Tae-nyeon, floor leader of the Democratic party. “The entire National Assembly must move to Sejong [….] Furthermore, through further discussion, the Blue House and all government ministries should also be relocated. Then can congestion and real estate problems of the Seoul Capital Area (SCA) be relieved*.” Henceforth, the historic debate over relocating Korea’s administrative capital resurfaced again on July 21st. The public and the Blue House have been hesitant about the move, but the Democratic party has announced aims to pass legal foundations for relocation before 2021.

The Seoul squeeze

   Although Assemblyman Kim’s proposal appeared in the context of rectifying the immediate housing crisis and population congestion, regardless of success and political leanings, almost every president and national election since the 1970s has recognized Seoul’s overpopulation and hopes for administrative relocation. Park Chung-hee was the first to actively push for the move with the “Special Measures Act for Constructing a Temporary Administrative Capital,” addressing the concerns of Seoul being overcrowded, too close to the northern border, and distant from the country’s southern and eastern corners. The document mentions “It [intends] to take preemptive measures [curbing] real estate speculation and allowing the adjustment of various plans for land within the [designated administrative area]**.” Park pursued these plans with enthusiasm, but the relocation was dropped with his assassination in 1979. He constructed before his death a second central government complex in Gwacheon, Gyunggido, but this only added to the congested SCA’s expansion, not its dissolution***.

   Several following presidents attempted to move key government faculties outside the SCA. In 1993, President Kim Young-sam began constructing a third government complex at Daejeon, moving 11 central administrative agencies such as the Public Procurement Service and National Railroad Administration; Kim Dae-jung followed suit, relocating 8 more****. However, only 30% of government employees affiliated with those departments moved to Daejeon, and the overall impact on SCA’s congestion was, according to many, “unsatisfactory*****.”

   In 2004, president Roh Moo-hyun returned to the table the relocation of the administrative capital to Sejong. Although his proposal passed the Assembly, the Constitutional Court declared the move unconstitutional as “Seoul’s status as the capital of Korea is part of our unwritten and customary constitution.” The Court received much criticism for its “customary constitution[al]” basis, but the ruling remains one of the most significant obstacles to relocation. Roh resorted to developing Sejong as a multi-purpose administrative city focusing on government institutions without the Blue House, Assembly, Ministry of National Defense and other key facilities. Most of this move too, however, was scrapped by the following president Lee Myung-bak******. It remains unclear whether the respective relocation plans were canceled because of their supposed inefficacy or regime change.

   Roh also implemented the First Move of Public Institutions, which relocated 175 out of 345 Public Institutions in the SCA to Sejong, different designated cities or other regions from 2003 to 2019. According to the Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements, the dissemination effectively stalled population influx to the SCA for eight years and stimulated 60,000 people to move out of the SCA. But the SCA’s population began increasing again from 2017 as the effect of the first move was wearing off. The move also created the unfortunate side effect of concentrating non-SCA populations to those cities designated for public institutions, which calls for a different, more substantial relocation to disperse SCA’s population.

   In addition, government workers’ complaints about increased business trips and inefficiency due to administrative functions being split between Seoul and Sejong have been increasing. Representative Kim Tae-nyeon criticized in his speech the rise of “road directors” and “KakaoTalk chiefs,” neologisms satirizing how government employees must spend so much time on the road that they must work while commuting. According to Yeonhap News, employees based in Sejong made a total of 869,000 business trips costing a total of ₩ 917 hundred million from 2016 to 2018, half of which were to Seoul’s National Assembly building. Full relocation to Sejong would diminish such costs.

Segue to Sejong

   Prior to July 21, President Moon himself often mentioned relocating the administrative capital to Sejong during his campaign trail for presidency in 2017. His proposals were met with minimal criticism unlike president Roh’s, implying that the public and politicians were warming up to the idea of moving the administrative capital*******. Thus, Democrats have begun embracing Assemblyman Kim’s proposal with increasing enthusiasm.

   The most reliable way to bypass the unconstitutionality ruling is to amend the constitution itself. “The [issue] would be resolved if we insert the phrase ‘our capital is Sejong City’ into the constitution. Adding the concept to the written constitution invalidates [arguments based on] the unwritten [customary] constitution,” Democratic Party leader Lee Hae-chan said during a special lecture in Sejong City on July 24********. However, this method is more easily said than done as the last amendment to the constitution was made in 1987, when presidential terms were limited to 5 years; many democrats appeared reluctant to embark upon such a potentially controversial move. Furthermore, though Democrats hold the majority in the national assembly, they are 24 seats short of the 2/3 majority required to amend the constitution*********.

   The party decided instead to enact a special law to work around the ruling, the same method president Roh used to initiate Sejong’s development, leaving open the possibility for the Constitutional Court to declare the new law also unconstitutional. Their goal is to compromise with the Republicans and pass the relocation proposal by December, presumably to process the relocation before Moon’s term ends in two years. The Blue House, though of the Democratic party, has been relatively equivocal about the move, a representative claiming that “The administrative capabilities of Sejong must be fully established, but it is clear that Seoul is the capital of South Korea**********.”

Public and politics divided

   The Republican party appears to have mixed opinions: On one hand, they do not want to alienate precious votes from Chungcheong-do, an area that would benefit from the move and has seen recent competition from Democratic candidates; On the other, agreeing with the move would support the incumbent Democratic government and risk alienating supporters with power and capital in Seoul. Recent public opinion has also been largely divided over relocating the capital, though opinions about the move have improved from previous years.

   Despite the general hesitant positivity towards the move, criticism has also been directed against the Democratic party for politicizing the issue. Their abrupt proposal came after a rapid decline in the Democratic government’s approval rates; according to Gallup Korea, Moon’s approval rate dropped from 70% in May to 46% in July due to multiple factors such as Seoul mayor Park Won-soon’s suicide after a #MeToo accusation and exacerbation of the SCA’s housing crisis due to unwisely implemented government restraints. The party did not respond with much remorse after each incident and exacerbated the Democrats’ negative image. The housing crisis especially continues to dominate headlines, and many media outlets including The Hankeyoreh and Chosun Ilbo pointed fingers at incumbent politicians who possess multiple high-value properties in the SCA. Presenting the administrative capital’s move distracted from the party’s missteps and attempted to keep some initial campaign promises, but it also politicized the issue of equal national development—an essential problem critics claim could have escaped division along party lines.

   However, some still question whether the relocation of the administrative capital would do much for equal development and decentralization of Seoul at all. Nations where economic centers and administrative capitals are separate, such as the United States and Australia, are not necessarily exempt from overcrowding and housing problems. The administrative move only proposes to move the governmental function and leave Seoul as the nominal capital, but many consider this change synonymous to moving the capital entirely and are reluctant to accept the change. And as word of possible relocation spreads, real estate in Sejong has already been spiking, recording an average 2% increase in housing prices per week since July 21st***********. Others have also complained that Sejong does not have the cultural and economic infrastructure to support a full administrative move and population shift. “Not many people other than government workers live here,” said Kyung-sook Oh, a property owner and part-time Sejong resident in an interview with The Yonsei Annals. “The only main leisure facility is the artificial park and the library [president Roh constructed in 2004]. Many of those employees return to homes closer to Seoul for the weekend, so the city at times empties out.”

   Democrats also sparked controversy by stating they might consider relocating Seoul National University to shift the educational infrastructure around Sejong. Seoul National retorted that the school has no plans to initiate a move. Director of the National Equal Development center Sa-yeol Kim also clarified in an interview with Segye Ilbo that the administrative move would be made effective by developing the schools around Sejong, but that moving current iconic organizations of Seoul such as Seoul National and KBS is unreasonable due to their set identities and the thousands of people tied to those organizations.

*                 *                *

   In late 2019, the SCA’s population swelled to encompass over 50% of Korean citizens. Government officials expressed serious concern over these rates as it would result in further overcrowding and housing crises in the SCA and dilapidation of other areas that eventually would burden the entire nation. As South Korea’s move to relocate the administrative capital resurfaces with the most approval and urgency from politicians and public alike since 1977, it seems probable that a slow yet major geographic change in Korea’s political sphere is soon to come.

*MediaToday

**National Archives of Korea, 임시행정수도건설을위한특별조치법중개정법률안

***Yeonhap News

****Donga Ilbo

*****The Hankyeoreh

******The Hankyeoreh, excerpts from Roh’s autobiography [운명이다]

*******Yeonhap News, Sound of Sejong

********Maeil Kyungjae

*********JTBC

**********JTBC

***********Shina Ilbo