The budget for the project to build the Sejong presidential office became a point of contention at the Land Infrastructure and Transport Committee Special Committee on Budget & Accounts fund subcommittee meeting on the 20th. The project will newly construct the president's office, residence, and various work facilities on a 250,000-square-meter site in Sejong-dong, Sejong. A plan is also underway to create a 2.1-million-square-meter "national symbol district" bundled with the National Assembly's Sejong branch.
President Lee Jae-myung said at a Cabinet meeting on the 11th, "During our administration's term, we must usher in the era of the Sejong office and make every effort with the mindset that the final Cabinet meeting will also be held at the Sejong office." Lee's term ends on June 3, 2030. The National Agency for Administrative City Construction (NAACC), which is in charge of building the Sejong presidential office, is proceeding with construction with the goal of moving in by Aug. 2029.
Judging by that timeline alone, it may look like Lee could hold the final Cabinet meeting at the Sejong office, but the reality is different. On the 20th, during the settlement of account review for the 2025 fiscal year under the NAACC at the Land Infrastructure and Transport Committee Special Committee on Budget & Accounts subcommittee, the issues of budget non-execution and carryover for the Sejong presidential office construction project were discussed.
According to the review materials of the Land Infrastructure and Transport Committee Special Committee on Budget & Accounts, the budget for the Sejong presidential office construction project in the 2025 fiscal year was 5,659 million won. Of that, 347 million won was actually executed, for an execution rate of 6.1%. 5,224 million won was carried over and 88 million won was disposed as unused. In addition, of the 4.3 billion won budget for the basic survey and design of the international competition for the national symbol district master plan linked to the Sejong office construction project, 4,212 million won was carried over. In effect, the allocated budget is scarcely being used.
NAACC officials explained that several factors, including design changes, are delaying the construction project. During the architectural design competition stage for the Sejong office construction, the project was criticized for a "lack of tradition," and design supplementation is underway.
Choi Hyeong-uk, Vice Administrator of the NAACC, said, "To shorten the timeline, we proposed holding an integrated design competition for the urban plan for the national symbol district, including the presidential office, as well as the architectural design of the presidential office. However, the consultation process dragged on, and the process proceeded by separating the urban planning and architectural design competitions," adding, "That is why there has been some delay."
The NAACC says it will finish the design by June next year and complete the process from awarding the construction contract to completion within two years. But even Rep. Jeong Il-yeong of the ruling party said, "You are only doing the design now, and there are about two and a half years left—do you think it will be completed?" adding, "It seems impossible."
Construction of the National Assembly's Sejong branch is also being delayed continuously. The initial plan was to complete it in 2027, but the timeline was pushed back to 2029, then 2031, and now to 2033.