(EDITORIAL from the Korea Times on Dec. 17)

Mega Plan
Balanced development should not be politically driven

The nation should no longer delay balanced regional development to revitalize the
provincial economy and ease the concentration of population and wealth in Seoul
and its surrounding zones.

Former President Roh Moo-hun devoted himself to
promoting development in rural areas. He first tried to move the capital out of
Seoul to a rural town in South Chungcheong Province to fix the problem of
overpopulation and over-expansion in the metropolitan area.
However, he was forced to compromise on his ambitious capital relocation plan as
the Constitutional Court ruled against it. So, he had to build a new
administrative town in the central province while keeping Seoul as the nation's
capital. Roh also pushed massive projects to turn rural areas into cities
specializing in specific businesses and industries, including distribution,
tourism and culture.
But his policy made little progress in turning the underdeveloped regions into
what he really intended to build to bring prosperity to residents there. It was
because Roh had pressed ahead with such mammoth projects not for economic
purposes but for political reasons. In other words, he exploited such projects in
order to broaden his regional power base and garner more support for his
government and party. Critics even pointed out that the Roh administration just
turned the whole country into the arena for property speculation.
After taking office in February, President Lee Myung-bak expressed his intention
to scrap his predecessor's reckless regional development policy. But he could not
do so in the face of strong objections from provincial authorities and residents
as well as opposition political parties. Then, the Lee administration announced
the first phase of a five-year regional development plan in September, promising
to invest 56 trillion won. In addition, the government unveiled a second phase
requiring 42 trillion won on Monday. In total, the plan needs 98 trillion won.
Lee's policy is based on a concept that national competitiveness cannot be
improved without fostering balanced regional development. More than 22,000
companies relocated their operations abroad over the past several years, looking
for cheap labor and lucrative markets. However, only 1,500 businesses moved out
of Seoul and its metropolitan areas to provincial locations. This means that
South Korea has become a difficult place to do business.
However, there are growing fears that Lee might follow in the footsteps of his
predecessor. In order to avoid the same mistake, President Lee should implement
the development plan in accordance with economic perspectives, not from political
considerations. The central government should not allocate financial resources to
some regions, which are not feasible for development, for political gains.
The Lee administration has recently eased strict regulations on business and
factory operations in the densely populated Seoul and its vicinity. The move came
in response to strong calls for deregulation from Gyeonggi Province. It angered
officials, businesspeople and residents of other provinces and cities across the
nation. In this situation, the second stage of the regional development plan
reflects the conflicts between urban and rural areas.
First of all, the mega development plan should not end up short-term stopgap
measures based on populism. It must be pushed to strengthen genuine
competitiveness of rural areas and raise living standards of their residents in
the long run.
(END)