PPP warns against relocation of foreign, defense ministries to Sejong

SEOUL, Oct. 15 (Yonhap) -- The People Power Party (PPP) on Thursday strongly denounced the government's decision to relocate 44 ministries and agencies, including the foreign and defense ministries, to the central administrative city of Sejong by 2031.

The main opposition party warned that moving the key ministries responsible for foreign affairs and national defense to Sejong would be a self-destructive decision that could undermine national security.

Rep. Joo Ho-young, a six-term lawmaker and former vice speaker of the National Assembly, said relocating the defense ministry without thorough national security measures could be seen as effectively abandoning the defense of the capital.

"In South Korea, a divided nation still under an armistice, the ability of wartime leadership to communicate and make decisions swiftly during an emergency determines the very fate of the nation," Joo said in a news conference at the National Assembly.

He also noted that Seoul is home to embassies from 118 countries, warning that relocating the foreign ministry could force them to either bear the costs of moving alongside the ministry or face diplomatic inefficiencies from having to travel between Seoul and Sejong.

Joo said the relocation plan, which he argued could endanger people's lives and national security, is absolutely unacceptable and must be scrapped immediately.

Rep. Lim Lee-ja, chair of the PPP's policy committee, also condemned the relocation plan as "hasty and ill-conceived," saying that sending 10,000 central government officials to Sejong will do little to curb housing prices in Seoul.

"President Lee Jae Myung has refused to acknowledge the failure of his real estate policies, instead blaming the concentration of government functions in Seoul. Now he is seeking to relocate 10,000 civil servants, including those from the foreign, unification and defense ministries, to Sejong, disregarding the risk of fragmenting the government's control tower functions for national security and crisis response," Lim said in a party leadership meeting.

ycm@yna.co.kr
(END)