Sejong is starting its role as a new center of public administration, as the prime minister’s office is moving from Seoul to the new special self-governing city over the weekend. Also scheduled to move into the city this year are five ministries and six sub-ministry-level offices.

As the nation’s capital, Seoul will continue to be the home for the presidential office, the National Assembly, the Supreme Court, some key non-economic ministries and other state institutions. But Sejong, 120 kilometers south of Seoul, will have become a de facto mini-capital when 16 ministries and agencies and 20 central government offices have completed their relocation by the end of 2014.

Now the question is whether or not the nation will accomplish the intended goal of the massive relocation ― rebalancing national development. Another key question is how to reduce the inefficiency that will result from the sharing of work by state institutions in Seoul and those in Sejong. A third issue of great concern is the provision of amenities for more than 10,000 government employees moving into the new city and their families.

The idea of building a new city for public administration in South Chungcheong Province came from Roh Moo-hyun when he was campaigning for election to the presidency in 2002 as a progressive candidate. In what his conservative critics regarded as a ploy to woo swing voters, Roh proposed to promote balanced national development and ease overcrowding in Seoul by moving the nation’s capital to the central Chungcheong region.

Roh won the election. But his proposal to relocate the capital was dashed when the Constitutional Court ruled the law enacted for the purpose unconstitutional in 2004. He changed his plan, proposing to build a scaled-down city as a new home for ministries administering economic affairs, ministerial-level agencies and lower-level government offices.

On taking office in 2008, conservative President Lee Myung-bak proposed to further slim down the project and make the planned city a science, business and education hub. But the bill written to this end was rejected, as an anti-Lee faction in the ruling party joined the opposition when it was put to a vote in 2010.

Sejong, inaugurated in July this year as a special self-governing city, is projected to become a large city with a population of 500,000 people by 2030. It is yet to be seen whether or not Sejong’s growth will have the desired effect of significantly lessening housing, traffic and pollution problems in Seoul ― a huge city with a population of 10 million people. If it ever does, however, it will definitely take time.

It is necessary to ease the concentration of commerce, medicine, education and other services in Seoul, in which, for instance, are headquartered more than eight in 10 government-invested corporations and government-funded institutes and 91 of the 100 largest corporations in the nation.

It is one thing to foster Sejong as a counterbalance to Seoul in public administration but quite another to rebalance national development. As such, it will have to be pursued as a long-term goal.

What demands immediate attention, though, is the provision of amenities for civil servants moving into the new city and their families. One of the most serious problems is the shortage of classrooms. According to a news report, enrollment at an elementary school in one of the apartment complexes in the city is almost at full capacity although 60 percent of the apartments are yet to be occupied. This problem must be addressed as soon as possible.

No less serious is the problem of reducing the inefficiency that will result when government agencies in Seoul and those in Sejong are required to share work. One such case is the weekly meeting that demands the participation of all Cabinet members.

Video conferencing will have to be a substitute for a face-to-face meeting frequently. But it will hardly be as effective and convenient. Holding a Cabinet meeting will be even more complicated, given that its agenda items are required to be determined by vice ministers in advance. Should they meet face-to-face or hold a video conference?

It is urgent to develop standard operation procedures for administrative agencies in Sejong working with the legislature and the judiciary as well as other administrative offices in Seoul.