YONHAP NEWS

Gov't considers attracting research centers, elite schools to Sejong City

By Kim Eun-jung
SEOUL, Nov. 23 (Yonhap) -- South Korea may try to lure research institutes and elite schools to a new city it is building, officials said Monday, as it studies revisions to an earlier blueprint to relocate some key government offices there.

The "Sejong City" project in South Chungcheong Province was initiated by late former President Roh Moo-hyun as a follow-up to his 2002 campaign pledge. The plan is nearly 40 percent complete but doubts have flared over its viability.

The initial plan calls to move nine ministries and four government agencies to the central region, with the aim of fostering more balanced growth. Prime Minister Chung Un-chan formally proposed revisions in September to make Sejong into an economic hub or science belt instead of an administrative city.

   In the second joint committee meeting presided over by Chung, representatives from the government and private sector discussed attracting 19 domestic and 3 foreign research institutes and forming large-scale development clusters in Sejong to make it a science and business mecca, officials said.

   They also discussed giving incentives to elite and international schools that move to or newly open in Sejong in a bid to improve its educational environment for those moving to the new city early on, officials said.

   The goal is to make Sejong self-sufficient with a population of 500,000 by 2030, they said.

   The 16-member committee is scheduled to come up with an alternative plan by early December through public hearings and other consensus-building procedures.

   Since its inauguration in early 2008, the Lee Myung-bak administration has been looking to downsize the relocation project, calling a regional division of the government "inefficient." Plan changes are fiercely opposed by the residents of Chungcheong Province and opposition parties as well as a major faction of the ruling party.

   ejkim@yna.co.kr
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