Chairman Kim Sa-yeol: "Forced Relocation of Universities in Seoul is Practically Difficult"

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jin-young] Kim Sa-yeol, Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Balanced National Development, recently expressed the position that it is practically difficult for the government to forcibly relocate major universities in the Seoul metropolitan area to other regions.

Kim Sa-yeol, Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Balanced National Development, attended the seminar titled "Review of Balanced Development Policy Implementation under the Moon Jae-in Administration and Task Derivation" held at the National Assembly on the 24th, delivering a lecture on the topic "Where is National Balanced Development 2020 Heading?" / Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

On the morning of the 24th, at a forum held at the National Assembly Members' Office Building titled "Review of Balanced Development Policy under the Moon Jae-in Administration and Task Derivation," Chairman Kim stated, "Most universities in the metropolitan area are private universities, so we cannot impose compulsory measures like those applied to public institutions."

He emphasized, "Most metropolitan universities are private, and these universities face difficulties in relocating," adding, "(Even) Seoul National University and Incheon National University, which are considered national universities, have been corporatized."

Chairman Kim responded, "We understand the difficulties, but they cannot be subjects of relocation."

On the same day, Nonsan Mayor Hwang Myung-seon and others urged Chairman Kim to consider relocating education to other regions for balanced development. Mayor Hwang said, "Shouldn't we deeply consider a concrete discourse on relocating Seoul metropolitan universities to other regions?" and added, "For example, if Seoul National University is involved, it could relocate by region or by college."

Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Kwang-jae also pointed out, "Local universities are completely collapsing; can local jobs be created under these circumstances?" He stressed, "Unless we firmly establish the principle that jobs are created where knowledge exists, South Korea will never solve the regional imbalance problem."

Democratic Party lawmaker Cho Seung-rae emphasized, "This has happened due to unbalanced investment in educational finances," and added, "Bold investment in unbalanced regional universities is more necessary."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.