Bipartisan consensus on the need for enactment achieved through congratulatory remarks by ruling and opposition politicians at a National Assembly forum on the 22nd.
Experts propose legal status acquisition measures reflecting new era changes.

As conditions surrounding the completion of the administrative capital and balanced national development have changed significantly since the 2004 Constitutional Court ruling of unconstitutionality, a strong argument has emerged that the National Assembly must respond to the demands of the times by enacting a Special Act on the Administrative Capital.

Experts also suggested that the legal status of Sejong City as the administrative capital should be clarified by reflecting a dualized capital concept that separates "'Economic Capital' Seoul" and "'Administrative Capital' Sejong."

At the "Forum for the Enactment of the Special Act on the Administrative Capital Within the Year," held at 2 PM on the 22nd in the main auditorium of the National Assembly Library, diverse opinions regarding the necessity and justification for enacting the special act within the year were presented by figures across various fields.

The event was attended by approximately 300 people, including lawmakers Kang Jun-hyun, Kim Jong-min, and Hwang Un-ha, members of the Sejong City Council, academic experts, and civil society representatives.

In his opening remarks, Mayor Cho Sang-ho reflected on the significance of completing the administrative capital as a national task, stating, "I recall the words of former President Roh Moo-hyun that if a cause is historically righteous, it will surely be achieved."

"President Lee Jae-myung has proclaimed a dualized national capital plan, and government-level support measures are being well-discussed," Mayor Cho emphasized. "As the legal basis to support this, we must enact the Special Act on the Administrative Capital within the year to keep the 24-year-old promise of making South Korea a place where everyone can live well evenly, no matter where they are."

In their welcoming remarks, lawmakers Kang Jun-hyun, Kim Jong-min, and Hwang Un-ha stressed the need for the special act to complete Sejong as the administrative capital, promising cooperation and efforts at the National Assembly level for legislation within the year.

Following this, Choi Min-hee, Senior Supreme Council Member of the Democratic Party of Korea; Cho Seung-rae, Chairman of the National Assembly's Fiscal and Economic Planning Committee; Huh Tae-jung, Mayor of Daejeon; and Ahn Shin-il, Chairman of the Sejong City Council, took the podium to express their solidarity and cooperation for completing the administrative capital and achieving balanced national growth.

In addition, National Assembly Speaker Cho Jung-sik, Democratic Party Leader Kim Min-seok, Rebuilding Korea Party Leader Shin Chang-sik, Democratic Party Floor Leader Han Byeong-do, National Governors' Association President Park Chan-dae, National Assembly Budget and Settlement Committee Chairman Lee Kwang-jae, and Chungcheong Megacity Union Head Park Soo-hyun expressed consensus on the need for the special act through video congratulatory remarks.

People Power Force Floor Leader Jung Jeom-shik and Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee Chairman Yoo 의동 (Yoo Eui-dong) celebrated the forum through written congratulatory remarks, reaffirming the bipartisan political consensus and cooperation on the significance of completing Sejong as the administrative capital.

In the main panel discussion, Kang Hyun-chul, a senior research fellow at the Korea Legislation Research Institute, delivered a keynote presentation on "The Necessity of Enacting the Special Act on the Administrative Capital to Complete a Leading Decentralization Nation."

Researcher Kang Hyun-chul argued that the Constitutional Court’s 2004 ruling of unconstitutionality regarding the Special Act on the Construction of a New Administrative Capital was limited to invalidating that specific special act, and it does not mean Sejong City loses its legal status as an administrative capital.

"We must first consider whether it is truly reasonable to continue debating Sejong City’s legal status from its launch in 2012 up to the present," Kang opened. "We should conclude this by enacting the special act within the year."

He added, "Constitutional Court precedents are often subject to continuous changes, such as in cases of conscientious objection to military service," emphasizing that the decision viewing the construction of the new administrative capital as unconstitutional also deserves to be re-evaluated through legislation.

The panel discussion was chaired by Song Jae-ho, former Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Balanced National Development, with participation from Park Jae-hee, Professor of Urban and Autonomous Convergence at Chungnam National University; Sung Si-kyung, President of the Korean Association for Public Administration; and Ha Hye-young, Senior Legislative Researcher at the National Assembly Research Service.

Attendees agreed that completing Sejong as the administrative capital is a core task for transcending the Seoul metropolitan area's single-pole system and achieving balanced national growth.

Sung Si-kyung, President of the Korean Association for Public Administration, emphasized, "The completion of administrative capital Sejong must be approached from the perspective of innovating the national governance system, such as multi-polar territorial development and future government models. Accordingly, it must be made clear that the special act for completing the administrative capital is not a law for a single local government called Sejong City, but a bill for the entire national governance system of South Korea."

Professor Park Jae-hee of Chungnam National University stated, "We must break away from Seoul-centric thinking while shattering Seoul's concentration of power and class stratification. Even to realistically overcome the controversy over the administrative capital without a constitutional amendment, I agree that we must embrace a multi-faceted and overlapping concept of the capital."

Meanwhile, the forum was jointly hosted by the offices of lawmakers Kang Jun-hyun, Kim Jong-min, and Hwang Un-ha, the Sejong City Hall, and the Pan-National Headquarters for the Enactment of the Special Act on the Administrative Capital; sponsored by the Sejong City Council, the Chungcheong Megacity Union, the Chungcheong Megacity Union Council, and the Sejong City Local Era Committee; and organized by the Sejong Center for Balanced National Development.