Korea postpones relocation of public institutions due to fierce competition

[Courtesy of MOLIT]

The South Korean government’s plan to relocate more than 300 public institutions in the capital area to other provinces has been put on hold as it needs more time to collect opinions amid overheated competition among local autonomous entities.

Maeil Business Newspaper has learned Wednesday that the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has decided to postpone the schedule to establish a basic plan for the relocation of public institutions to other regions, which was initially scheduled to be completed by the end of June.

“It comes as a burden on the government to announce a plan ahead of the general elections as locating public institutions to local regions involves complex interests,” said an unnamed official from the ruling People Power Party.

The land ministry has been gathering opinions from January through 30 meetings with stakeholders, including local government officials and other experts from relevant organizations. However, it has not been able to reach a consensus due to significant differences in opinions among the parties involved.

Local governments have been proposing dozens of goals to attract public institutions, placing even more burden on the central government.

More than four cities and provinces are wishing to invite major public institutions to their regions, such as the Korea Racing Authority, Korea Airports Corp., Korea Environmental Corp. and Korea Energy Technology Evaluation Institute.

Conflict is also intensifying between existing innovation cities and non-innovation cities.

Innovation cities argue for the need to relocate additional public institutions in line with the purpose of creating innovation cities while non-innovation cities insist on relocating public institutions to other regions for the sake of balanced development.

The government has taken steps to adjust the schedule as conflict among various stakeholders surrounding the relocation continues to escalate.

“We believe it would be right to carry out the relocation after a more thorough preparation as there are differences in opinions between regions and within each region,” said Woo Tong-ki, chair of the Presidential Committee for Balanced National Development.

Shin Yul, professor of political science at Myongji University, advised that the government should understand the characters of each public institution and decide on the relocation based on efficiency instead of blindly relocating institutions in the name of balanced development.