Sejong City (pop. 353,933) is an administrative center in South Korea. Its official name is Sejong Metropolitan Autonomous City. Sejong City lies some 75 miles (120 kilometers) south of Seoul, South Korea’s capital. It is named after King Sejong, who developed Hangeul, the Korean alphabet, in the 1440’s. Construction on Sejong City began in 2007, and the city remains under development.
During the early 2000’s, many people expressed concern about overcrowding in Seoul. In addition, people worried that South Korea’s economic growth was too heavily concentrated on Seoul, with little development elsewhere. To address these concerns, Roh Moo-hyun, who was elected president in 2002, proposed moving the capital from Seoul to an area farther south.
In 2004, the Constitutional Court of Korea ruled that Seoul would remain the capital. Roh then revised his plan to call for the construction of a new city to serve as an administrative center. Under the plan, numerous government offices would relocate, but South Korea’s legislature, the president’s residence, and several key ministries would remain in Seoul.
The proposed center was named Sejong City in 2006. In 2007, construction of the city began. South Korea’s government allocated land from the provinces of South Chungcheong and North Chungcheong for the new special administrative district. The areas officially merged, and the first Sejong City government took office on July 1, 2012. Ministries and related government offices began moving to Sejong City in 2012.
