|
Daejon chosen as home to big science project
|
Losing regions’ leaders shave heads, hunger-strike to protest gov’t favoritism
과학벨트 대덕 선정에 여야 정치권 반발
May 17, 2011
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Minister of Education, Science and Technology Lee Ju-ho announces yesterday that Daejeon will get the country’s new science belt. [YONHAP] |
To bolster the nation’s high-tech prowess, the government will build in Daejeon’s Daedeok District a 5.2 trillion won ($4.8 billion) international business and science complex with a National Basic Science Institute and a large-scale particle accelerator, Minister of Education, Science and Technology Lee Ju-ho announced yesterday.
The decision for where the so-called science belt would be built has been awaited for months. Four other areas were in the running: Gwangju, Daegu, Pohang and North Gyeongsang.
“The Education Ministry and a government-run science belt evaluation committee have thoroughly discussed the site for the belt and made a decision today,” Lee said. “In an effort to encourage top research centers to cooperate with each other, we have increased the project’s budget from what was previously planned.” The final budget went up 1.7 trillion won from the 2009 plan.
According to the ministry, the universities already based in Daedeok, along with R&D institutions and infrastructure, gave the city the highest score, 75, by the evaluation committee.
After the announcement, angry lawmakers and civic groups in South Jeolla and North Gyeongsang protested the decision, saying the government was trying to attract votes from Chungcheong for next year’s presidential election by launching the belt in the region.
President Lee Myung-bak made a pledge during the 2007 presidential election campaign to build a science belt in Chungcheong to boost local economic recovery.
The government expects about 3,000 jobs to be created from the science belt project, and bring Korea’s tech savviness forward by attracting scientists from around the world to work there.
The government also announced that Cheongwon, Yeongi and Cheonan have been selected as the belt’s “supporting cities” for finance and industry. They are all in the Chungcheong region.
Daedeok will be home to the 3 million square meter (741 acres) science belt. Its two main components will be a National Basic Science Institute and the Korea Rare Isotope Accelerator (KoRIA).
KoRIA, a 470 billion won particle accelerator, is regarded as crucial for developing the nation’s basic science research.
Experts say the accelerator can be used in a wide range of studies, such as astrophysics, biology and medical science, and could attract top scientists and researchers from around the world.
The ministry said 25 laboratories will be built in the disappointed three cities and one province.
According to the ministry, four of Korea’s elite science universities - Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Pohang University of Science and Technology, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology and Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology - will cooperate to create a so-called joint campus for technology cooperation.
Out of the 5.2 trillion won budget, the government will invest 2.3 trillion in Daedeok and the rest on the joint campus and associated laboratories in other areas.
Lee In-ki, a Grand National Party lawmaker based in North Gyeongsang, said yesterday: “We can’t accept a decision that is so obviously intended to win votes for an election.”
Gu Do-gweon, chief of a committee for the development of the southeastern region of Korea, said, “If you want to balance development among cities, it’s not right to select Daejeon, where lots of state-run research centers have already been built.”
Kim Kwan-yong, governor of North Gyeongsang, has been on a hunger strike since Friday, when advance word of the selection of Daedeok leaked out. “I can’t understand why great cities in North Gyeongsang, such as Ulsan and Daegu, failed to be chosen for the belt, despite their excellent research centers and infrastructure,” Kim said on Sunday.
Lee Sang-hyo, chairman of the provincial council of North Gyeongsang, shaved his head on Sunday to protest the decision.
The North Gyeongsang Provincial Government and Ulsan and Daegu city governments released a statement yesterday, which read, “The selection of Daejeon is complete nonsense and the government should rescind its plan right away.”
The three governments also demanded that the evaluations of all the prospective sites be released.
In South Jeolla, Kang Un-tae, mayor of Gwangju, and Kim Young-jin, a local Democratic Party lawmaker, said Gwangju’s cheap real estate wasn’t factored into the decision. Three chairmen and five commissioners of the Gwangju City Council also went on a hunger strike yesterday.
By Kim Hee-jin [heejin@joongang.co.kr]
|
|
