SEJONG, KOREA — The construction of a government complex in Sejong City, Chungcheongnam-do (South Chungcheong Province), is underway. Thousands of government employees working for twelve government ministries and offices will start moving to the second administrative capital on September 15, beginning with the Prime Minister's Office. Most of the structural formations were completed and now landscaping and road construction are in progress.
"Construction is going well and there should be no problem for government offices to move in to the new facility," said an official of the Multifunctional Administrative Capital Construction Agency.
The Prime Minister's Office building was completed first, in April. It is a four-story building with a total floor space of 13,000 square meters. It has multifunctional meeting rooms and an auditorium, and there is a large park with a lake in front of the building.
Among the most notable features of the new complex are their state-of-the-art technologies. They boast a video conferencing system which is expected to provide seamless communication with the remaining offices in Seoul and Gwacheon City in Gyeonggi-do (Gyeonggi Province).
With Sejong City opening a new era in governance in Korea, the Prime Minister's Office tested the system on September 12. At a meeting of directors general, the officials logged into the system through their personal computers and reported to Yim Jong-yong, chief of the Prime Minister's Office.
The large monitor at the government complex in central Seoul showed the face of Yim as well as the other officials participating in the meeting. The government intends to regularly hold video conferences to improve communications among offices scattered across Seoul, Sejong and Gwacheon.
"We need to continue to invest in the system so that video conferencing becomes more widely utilized," Yim said. The complex is also designed to be environmentally friendly. Geothermal heat will provide 70 percent of the heating needs for the complex.
A road that connects the Osong KTX Train Station to the government complex will be open for use on September 18. This will halve commuting time from the station to the complex to 15 minutes.
The government complex is not the only place where advanced information technology will be used; the city will also have a so-called "smart school." At a smart school, when students pass through the main gate, they will be checked in automatically through an RFID chip embedded in their ID cards, and their parents will be notified by text message.
Classrooms will have electronic boards and students will be given electronic notepads. There will also be electronic message boards in the classroom displaying school schedules and various events. Students won't need to take notes during the class, as electronic boards can transmit note files to students, or vice versa.
"Every school in Sejong City will have a ubiquitous environment and it is expected to help boost the city's competitiveness," said the construction agency official.
The construction of Sejong City is a symbolic effort to decentralize Seoul and achieve balanced development of the country by relocating government institutions to the new administrative capital located in the middle of the nation.
The Ministry of Strategy and Finance, the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, the Ministry of Environment, and the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs and their subordinate agencies will move to the new capital by the end of this year. The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Ministry of Employment and Labor, and Veterans Affairs will follow suit by the end of next year.
In all, 36 institutions with over 10,000 employees will relocate to the new capital by the end of 2014.
Source: Korea.net
