Former presidential candidate Noh Mu-hyeon made a plan to move the nation's capital to another province during the presidential election in 2002. After being elected as president, the Noh Mu-hyeon administration decided to establish a new administrative city in Chungcheong-do with making its name as Sejong City brought from King Sejong in Chosun dynasty.
When the Lee Myeong-bak administration took power they decided to change the original plan for Sejong City. Sejong City will be established as an education and scientific research area. The Lee administration did not include the original plan for Sejong city to become an administrative city.
The opposing parties strongly disagree on this decision and gather their opinion to fight back against ruling party and the Lee administration about this matter. It seems it has become a giant dispute with the Four Major River Refurbishment Project between the ruling party and the opposing parties.
The biggest change of Sejong City in the plan is the expansion for industrial complex from 6.7 percent to 20.7 percent. There will be manufacturing facilities, universities and institutes placed in Sejong City. At the same time, there will be a lot of schools established such as a foreign language high school, a science high school, a high school for the arts and international high school. The government plans to build a new transportation connecting Daejeon City to Sejong City to Ohsong City by 2013.
However, there are different speculations on the point that whether Sejong City will create as many jobs as possible. Even though the governments and some experts predict that the Sejong City will devote itself to create a many jobs as possible, some experts still point out that the government's prediction of job creation for the Sejong City is somehow exaggerated. The government's prediction is just based on a maximum number of figures, but there is no guarantee whether it would create that many jobs.
Additional, complaints keep coming from other provinces and opposing parties due to the benefits Sejong City will provide. Officials in other provinces and the opposing parties point out that the government gives too many benefits such as providing lands for the companies that open their industrial complex in Sejong City. Other provinces must be given the same benefits from the government so that they will also be able to attract major companies into their cities.
