Sejong City

Sejong City (세종시/世宗市) is a new multifunctional administrative city (행정복합도시/行政複合都市) in Chungcheongnam-do.

Sejong City becomes the 17th metropolitan city in Korea as of July 1, 2012. Sejong City was the idea of late President Roh Moo-Hyun when he ran for the President in 2002. The Act for the establishment of Sejong City was declared unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court, and accordingly revised in a downsized manner.

The construction of central government department buildings is under progress and partly completed. Up to 10 thousand government officials including the Prime Minister will move in sooner or later by the end of 2014. Around 200 thousand houses and apartment units will be built in total by 2030 to accommodate more than 500 thousand citizens.

Key words
multifunctional administrative city (행복도시 'Happy' city), autonomous entity, unconstitutionality, unification

Unconstitutionality
The late President Roh Moo-hyun made the relocation of the South Korean capital to the swing region as the centerpiece of his administration in 2003, but the ambitious plan faced setbacks after the Constitutional Court ruled it unconstitutional in October 2004. The Constitutional Court held that President Roh's bill to relocate the Capital City to Chungcheong Province, which was enacted to keep his election pledges, unconstitutional because the Special Act is contrary to the "constitutional custom" and lacks the necessary referendum for its amendment.

The Constitutional Court Justices said that the Sejong City cannot take away Seoul's capital status as the Constitution refers to Seoul as the capital of Korea. As a result, the construction work of Sejong City had been drifting for more than two years even after ground was broken in July 2007 during the Roh administration.

Meanwhile, lawmakers from Chungcheong Province and opposition party lawmakers including presently Saenuri Party leader Park Geun-Hye, claimed that construction of the city should be carried out according to the original plan. Ruling Democratic Party lawmakers stuck to the revised plan and the City has been further downsized.

Sejong City and the Unification Issue
While politicians wrangled over the fate of Sejong City in 2009, questions linger whether it could become the country's capital when the two Koreas are unified. Some government leaders including Chung Un-chan, then Prime Minister, and other experts pointed out that the area does not have sufficient water to become the capital of a unified Korea. Some critics said the German case of relocating its capital gives a good lesson to Koreans, arguing that geographical proximity will make Sejong turn into one of Seoul's satellite cities. In the case of Germany, the distance between Berlin and Bonn was 600 kilometers. But the distance between Seoul and Sejong is only 120 kilometers. Ultimately, Sejong will become one of the mega metropolis of Seoul. Some experts, however, believe it is premature to discuss a united Korea.

Michael Breen, president of the Insight Communications Consultants in Seoul, said that "neither country wants unification and it may never happen. When it does, the choice of capital may be a matter of negotiation." Breen also believes that a capital city does not need to be in the center of the country as seen from Brazil's case. Brasilia was created in 1960 as a new, ambitious capital and it took some 20 years before senior civil servants stopped travelling to the old capital of Rio de Janeiro every weekend. But the capital has successfully offset its limitations by offering abundant social and recreational opportunities and has emerged as a world-class city. Meanwhile, some claim that decentralization of population and the economy should be promptly made and that the status of Sejong City should be further strengthened. "Korea should move its government and economic infrastructure as far away from the DMZ as possible, so that it avoids being held hostage to North Korea's artillery threat," said Jon Huer, a sociology professor.