Kim Min-seok visits Sejong for first time as party leader, vows to push administrative capital bill this year

Democratic Party of Korea leader Kim Min-seok made his first visit to Sejong Special Self-Governing City since taking office Wednesday, saying calls had come from multiple quarters to pass the Special Act on the Administrative Capital within the year and asking the floor to check whether a smooth bipartisan agreement was possible.

Speaking at the party's supreme council meeting in Sejong that day, Kim said completing Sejong as the administrative capital was "the 50th state affairs task of President Lee Jae Myung's People's Sovereignty Government and the No. 1 priority among national land transformation tasks."

Kim added that President Lee had said he intended to hold his farewell ceremony in Sejong, and that establishing a new presidential office there was too weighty a matter for a sitting president to shoulder alone — and that Lee had therefore pledged to pursue it together with the entire nation from a long-term perspective.

Turning to next year's budget, Kim said the construction budget for the presidential office in Sejong had grown more than eightfold this year alone, and that the budget allocated for the Sejong National Assembly building had reached 119.1 billion won ($73 million), surpassing 100 billion won. "The National Assembly will complete the legal foundation of the administrative capital," he said.

Kim also said construction of the Sejong presidential office and the Sejong National Assembly building was advancing through the design phase. He added that the party secretariat would consult on forming a separate special committee to complete the administrative capital legislation — one that would include Sejong lawmakers and the city party chapter chair — and that a special committee would be established if needed.

Floor Leader Han Byung-do said Sejong Mayor Jo Sang-ho had visited the Democratic Party floor leader's office to request that the legislative groundwork be laid for completing the administrative capital. Han also said that on Monday, Sejong residents had packed the steps in front of the National Assembly in the pouring rain to demand that the Special Act on the Administrative Capital be enacted this year.

Han went on to say the Democratic Party would faithfully honor that earnest wish, pledging to do its utmost to make this regular session of the National Assembly the occasion for completing the institutional foundation of the administrative capital.

Supreme Council member Choi Min-hee said making Sejong the administrative capital was "a vision for a new future for the Republic of Korea, one that President Roh Moo-hyun dreamed of in 2002 and that former party leader Lee Hae-chan has carried forward."

She added that the Special Act on Happy Cities, which made Sejong possible, had been passed through bipartisan agreement — under a political setup that included figures aligned with former President Park Geun-hye and a floor leadership headed by Park Ji-won. "I hope we can again draw on the political skill they demonstrated and see the special act completed this time," she said.