Capital Maneuver

Capital cities are magnets of prosperity to provincial folk across Asia, and Seoul is no exception. The metropolis' population now tops 10 million—one-fifth of the entire population of South Korea—and bureaucrats have pondered vainly for years how to keep Seoul from becoming ever more crowded and expensive. The country's politicians think they have the answer.

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When Roh Moo Hyun was vying for the presidency in late 2002, he realized he needed the swing voters of North and South Chungcheong provinces. So he promised to move the country's capital there, some 150 km south of Seoul. At the time, opponents ridiculed him for shameless pork barreling. But Roh won the office, and his shrewdness has proved contagious. With legislative elections coming up in April, lots of lawmakers want to appeal to Chungcheong voters. Shortly after Christmas, the South Korean legislature, with only a handful of dissenters, passed a law stating that the capital would be relocated (along with virtually all government agencies) to a yet-to-be-chosen site near Daejon—taking the center of power away from Seoul after 600 years. Construction is set to begin in 2007, finishing by 2030.

The plan has produced plenty of nonelected critics, especially when Roh's initial $5 billion estimate for the move jumped to $38.6 billion in December. They say the relocation of 500,000 people won't unclog Seoul. Landowners in Chungcheong aren't complaining: property prices in Daejon rose faster than any other city's in the first nine months of last year. "It'll be like our version of Washington, D.C.," enthuses Lee Jae Sun, an opposition lawmaker who represents Daejon. What no one denies is that the plan, which still faces major hurdles such as an intended campaign to oppose it by the Seoul metropolitan government, would make South Korea's government quite a bit safer. Seoul, 50 km from the Demilitarized Zone separating South and North Korea—is well within range of Kim Jong Il's artillery and only minutes away for jet fighters based at the North's front-line air bases.