Roh to Push for Relocation of Chong Wa Dae.

(From Korea Times)

Roh Moo-hyun, presidential candidate of the Millennium Democratic Party (MDP), yesterday said that, if elected head of state, he would relocate presidential office of Chong Wa Dae and government ministries to the central South Chungchong Province.

``To keep the metropolitan area, which has nearly reached its limit, from being further concentrated and fundamentally address the dilapidated local economy, I would build the administrative capital in the Chungchong region and move Chong Wa Dae and government ministries to the area,'' Roh said in a speech marking the official launch of his election campaign committee in front of the party headquarters in Yoido.

Roh also said that a national consensus was needed to address the issue, adding that the conditions for the creation of an administrative capital have already matured due to the construction of a high-speed railway and the development of information technology.

Though his rival candidates shared the need to relocate Chong Wa Dae or curtail its functions, they balked at relocating the administrative capital out of Seoul.

Earlier, Lee Hoi-chang, presidential candidate of the conservative Grand National Party (GNP), said he would move the presidential office from Chong Wa Dae to the Central Government Complex building in downtown Seoul.

But the GNP expressed a negative view on Roh's idea of moving the ministries, describing it as unrealistic.