INCHEON — The government's decision to relocate the Overseas Koreans Agency from Incheon's Songdo International City to Sejong has set off a backlash across the Incheon community.
Incheon Mayor Park Chan-dae, a close ally of President Lee Jae-myung and chairman of the Governors Association of Korea, has been placed in a difficult political position, unable to mount outright opposition. The controversy has widened further as local politicians from the ruling Democratic Party of Korea — who had uniformly welcomed the agency when it was awarded to the city — have remained silent.
△ Celebration When It Arrived, Collective Silence Over the Sejong Move
According to reporting by The Seoul Economic Daily on the 14th, most Democratic Party lawmakers representing Incheon, who had rushed to issue statements of welcome during the earlier competition to host the agency, have kept quiet, drawing criticism from local political circles.
Just three years ago, after the ruling and opposition parties agreed to revise the Government Organization Act and after a signature campaign involving one million Incheon residents and an open bidding process among local governments, the city won the agency. At the time, Democratic Party lawmakers — including Park, then a member of the National Assembly — issued a stream of welcoming statements and claimed credit for the outcome. Since the government announced its plan to consolidate agencies in Sejong, however, most local lawmakers have declined to state a clear position.
Rep. Kim Kyo-heung is the only member of the ruling party to voice public opposition.
In a statement titled "Must the Overseas Koreans Agency Pack Its Bags a Third Time?" Kim said, "Just three years after it opened, the agency is being shuttled between Seoul and Sejong, which undermines its ability to settle in." He added, "Incheon, home to Jemulpo Port, where the first emigrant ship set sail in 1902, and to Incheon International Airport, is the historic base for 7 million overseas Koreans in 181 countries." He strongly urged the government to withdraw the relocation decision, saying, "If the standard is the convenience of overseas Koreans rather than administrative convenience, the answer is Incheon."
△ One-Sided Notice on a National Agency Created by Law and Open Bidding: "Procedural Damage"
Critics also say the decision disregards legitimate administrative procedures that involved legislation by the National Assembly and a government-run bidding process.
The Overseas Koreans Agency was established as a national body in 2023 after a revision to the Government Organization Act passed the National Assembly with bipartisan agreement and was approved by the Cabinet. At the time, under the supervision of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, major local governments including Incheon, Seoul and Jeju Special Self-Governing Province competed fiercely to host it, and Incheon was chosen after a comprehensive assessment of accessibility for overseas Koreans, airport infrastructure and historical significance.
Civic groups argue that moving a core agency settled through such a legitimate bidding process should at minimum require public debate and review at the same level.
Kim Song-won, secretary general of the Incheon Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice, said, "The Overseas Koreans Agency is a national body that came to Incheon after legislation in the National Assembly, a Cabinet decision and a government-led hosting competition recognized the city's historical significance and accessibility." He stressed, "If relocation is to be pursued, the same public debate and consensus procedures should rightly be followed again, and announcing it unilaterally is a clear violation of procedural democracy."
Kim added, "Only if the agency itself — the main body — stays in Incheon do related facilities such as an education and culture center gain effectiveness and legitimacy." He said, "You cannot persuade citizens with logic that pulls up the roots and sends them to Sejong while offering to plant a side branch."
△ Park Cites "Practical Gains" From Hosting Center as Opposition Masses Outside City Hall
Immediately after the announcement, Park said on social media on the 13th, "Even if the office building goes to Sejong, 7 million overseas Koreans will come to Incheon," proposing talks to host an Overseas Koreans Education and Culture Center as an alternative. The aim is to secure practical visitor and exchange facilities while accepting the relocation of the administrative office as part of a broader overhaul of national governance.
Inside the city government, however, officials have been unable to hide their dismay. Park had previously blocked a proposed merger involving Incheon International Airport Corporation and attempts to move environment-related public agencies out of the capital region by personally lobbying the Presidential Office, the prime minister and the ministers in charge. This time, the move of the Overseas Koreans Agency to Sejong was announced abruptly without any prior consultation.
A senior Incheon city official told reporters on the 14th, "We were informed only on the morning of the announcement that the government planned to consolidate central administrative agencies, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of National Defense, in Sejong." The official added, "From the city's standpoint, this is an extremely awkward situation." The city's plan to build a standalone headquarters for the agency in Songdo while simultaneously hosting an Overseas Koreans Education and Culture Center with about 40 staff has collapsed at a stroke.
Seizing the opening, the local opposition staged a joint protest outside City Hall, raising the intensity of its attacks to a peak. The Incheon chapter of the People Power Party held a news conference in front of Incheon City Hall on the same day, attended by chapter chairman Shin Jae-kyung along with district chapter heads and senior party officials, strongly urging the government to withdraw the relocation plan and keep the agency in Incheon.
Shin said, "The mayor, who was discussing a standalone headquarters only last month, offered hosting an education and culture center as an alternative the moment the government made its announcement, as if he had been waiting for it." He demanded, "He should disclose transparently whether he knew about the relocation plan in advance." Shin went on to press Park, saying, "Being a true 'one team' means defending local interests when a government decision conflicts with Incheon's interests," and, "What citizens want is not excuses after the move but real action to stop it."
Local civic groups describe Park's response as the constraint that comes with being a powerful insider. As chairman of the Governors Association of Korea, who must represent balanced development across all 17 metropolitan cities and provinces, and as a key figure in the administration, he faces an inherent limit in pushing back against the government's drive to "complete Sejong as the administrative capital" solely on behalf of Incheon's interests, critics say. The argument that Incheon suffers a kind of double disadvantage — bearing capital-region regulations while losing out on public institutions — has resurfaced.