Budget Expansion and National Assembly Relocation to Sejong Issue... Local Governments' 'Sejong Offices' Boom

Operation of 'Sejong Offices' in Local Governments Except Seoul
Due to National Assembly Relocation Issues and Budget Securing
All-Out Effort for Information Gathering and Ministry Proposals

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Sehee] Local governments are rushing to establish offices in Sejong. This is due to the increasing government budget to respond to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic and the issue of relocating the National Assembly to Sejong.

According to a survey conducted by Asia Economy on the 13th, out of the 17 metropolitan cities and provinces, 15 operate Sejong offices. Except for Sejong itself, the only place without a Sejong office is Seoul. Gyeonggi, Daejeon, and Chungnam opened Sejong offices last year.

Looking at the local governments, a total of 3 to 4 personnel, including financial cooperation officers (grade 4), grade 5, grade 6, and grade 7 employees, are dispatched to work in Sejong. Within the Sejong office, there are facilities such as meeting rooms, financial cooperation officer offices, and smart work centers to support external cooperation departments of cities and counties.

A local government official A (43) said, "As the government's budget grows, we are working hard to secure it," adding, "The departments we mainly visit are the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, which oversees grants, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, which has many large-scale national projects, and the Ministry of Economy and Finance, which oversees the budget."

Another local government official B (37) said, "Since the headquarters are located in the provinces, it is difficult to respond to everything individually," and added, "We also make suggestions regarding laws, regulations, and guidelines that need to be enacted or revised." They organize laws by standing committees and make suggestions to related departments.

Next year's budget is 555.8 trillion won, an increase of more than 43 trillion won compared to this year's budget of 512.3 trillion won. The total expenditure growth rate is 8.5%, of which the budget growth rate for general and local administration fields reaches 9.5%.

They also play a role in securing special grants from the Ministry of the Interior and Safety. Special grants are funds allocated by the central government to local governments with certain conditions or usage restrictions attached. Typically, special grants are assigned to community-based projects such as creating multipurpose spaces and building parking lots.

Meanwhile, as discussions about promoting the construction of the National Assembly Sejong building have surfaced within the Democratic Party, it has become necessary to obtain information related to the Sejong government offices and the National Assembly relocation. It is judged that if the National Assembly moves to Sejong, it will greatly help in collecting various information. A local government official C (32) said, "If the National Assembly moves to Sejong, the role of the Sejong office could become even greater," adding, "The Seoul office and the Sejong office might be integrated and operated together."

On the 11th, Lee Nak-yeon, leader of the Democratic Party, announced plans to fully relocate the National Assembly to Sejong. The Democratic Party envisions developing Chungcheong as the administrative capital center as part of a regional balanced New Deal.

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