Relocation Agreement Bill Won`t Be Submitted This Month

In regard to the move of state bodies to new administrative capital, it was reported that the Presidential Committee on Administrative Capital Relocation will not submit an agreement bill to the National Assembly on the relocation of 11 constitutional agencies, including the legislature and the judiciary branch.

“It seems that no agreement was reached yet by the legislature and the judiciary branch on whether they will move or not. We will not submit an agreement bill on relocation before August so that they can take time to have discussions on their relocation,” said Park Nak-jo, head of the relocation plan bureau of the committee.

Park added, “The committee should submit an agreement bill on relocation to the National Assembly after the legislature and the judiciary branch notify us of their decision. We cannot submit the agreement bill on relocation, ignoring their views.”

The committee’s original plan was to obtain the president’s approval after submitting an agreement bill to the National Assembly sometime in July on the relocation of 11 constitutional agencies among 85 government agencies that were picked for relocation, including the National Assembly, the Supreme Court, the Constitutional Court, and the National Election Commission.

In regards to this, the committee will hold its fifth committee meeting at the Central Government Complex tomorrow and have a discussion on the relocation plan of government agencies and a basic plan of construction.

It is likely that the meeting tomorrow will draw the conclusion that the committee should discuss the relocation of 74 government agencies on which the president can decide and leave the relocation of the other 11 agencies to their own decisions.

Kwang-Hyun Kim kkh@donga.com