Park Won-seok "Is Gimpo's Incorporation into Seoul for the General Election? Seoul Citizens May Not Welcome It"

The Democratic Party pushes for 'Gyeonggi Gimpo City's incorporation into Seoul'
"Criticism of Seoul concentration expected... Procedures are also complicated"

Former Justice Party lawmaker Park Won-seok said on the 31st that regarding the People Power Party's announcement that it will push forward the proposal by the mayor of Gimpo City, Gyeonggi Province, to incorporate Gimpo into Seoul as a party policy, "Putting aside whether it is right or wrong, strategically, will this necessarily be advantageous in the general election?" and added, "Seoul citizens will not welcome it."

Although the proposal was made to appeal to voters in the metropolitan area, he emphasized that caution is needed as there may be strong opposition from Seoul citizens.

Kim Ki-hyun, leader of the People Power Party, is speaking at a meeting held on the 30th at the Gimpo Hangang Vehicle Base, which manages the Gimpo Gold Line, to discuss transportation measures for new towns in the metropolitan area.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

On the same day, former lawmaker Park appeared on CBS Radio's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show' and said, "Since it involves sharing the resource called Seoul, the districts in the area that want to be incorporated probably won't be very pleased."

He continued, "Also, there will likely be strong backlash from nearby areas in Gyeonggi Province that are not included. For example, Goyang City in Gyeonggi Province borders Seoul's Eunpyeong-gu and Seodaemun-gu. Although the living area is somewhat different from Gimpo, there is Yonsei University and Bulgwang Station, which used to all be part of Goyang-gun," he explained.

He added, "If Seoul incorporates part of that area, then why not incorporate the entire Goyang City? Already, some People Power Party district committee chairpersons in Goyang City are making such claims."

Former lawmaker Park said, "Many cities in Gyeonggi Province that border Seoul and share living areas will raise similar arguments," and gave examples: "(Gyeonggi) Guri, Gwangmyeong, Gwacheon, Hanam ? in all these places, people will say, 'Let's be incorporated into Seoul too.'"

He also said, "Incorporation into Seoul would further concentrate resources in Seoul, so is this policy-wise appropriate? There will be counterarguments since everything is already concentrated in Seoul," and added, "The procedure is also very complicated. It requires passing through all relevant local governments and passing a law in the National Assembly, so it is not simple."