Visit seen as marking start of full-scale preparations for the 'National Assembly Sejong era'

National Assembly Speaker Jo Jeong-sik (center) tours the planned site of the National Assembly Sejong building in Sejong on Tuesday and poses for a commemorative photo. [Yonhap]
National Assembly Speaker Jo Jeong-sik (center) tours the planned site of the National Assembly Sejong building in Sejong on Tuesday and poses for a commemorative photo. [Yonhap]

National Assembly Speaker Jo Jeong-sik chaired a meeting Tuesday in Sejong Special Self-Governing City on the construction of the National Assembly Sejong building and visited the planned site to review progress on the project.

At the meeting, Jo said the construction of the Sejong building is "a core task for achieving balanced national development and completing the administrative capital." He added that the National Assembly has laid the groundwork by establishing internal rules to finalize the scale of the relocation, forming a construction committee to decide on the total project cost and design competition format, and recently launching a second-term construction committee.

He also called on all parties to join forces in ushering in a "National Assembly Sejong era" centered on the legislature, saying the Sejong building "must become the people's assembly — one that fully reflects the values of the Constitution, popular sovereignty and parliamentary democracy."

During the meeting, Jo received briefings on Sejong City's vision and agenda for the National Assembly Sejong era, as well as the key contents of the master plan for the national symbolic zone drawn up by the National Agency for Administrative City Construction. He then exchanged views on major pending issues related to the construction and future areas of cooperation.

Jo and the other attendees subsequently visited the planned construction site, where he inspected the grounds firsthand and examined how the site connects with the national symbolic zone and the surrounding conditions.

The meeting and site visit were attended by Kim Seong-su, chair of the National Assembly Sejong Building Construction Committee, and other committee members, as well as National Assembly Secretary General Ko Yong-jin, lawmakers Kim Jong-min and Kang Jun-hyeon — both representing Sejong constituencies — Sejong Special Self-Governing City Mayor Jo Sang-ho, Sejong Special Self-Governing City Council Speaker An Sin-il, National Agency for Administrative City Construction Commissioner Kang Ju-yeop, Speaker's Chief of Staff Kang Tae-ung, Deputy Secretary General of the National Assembly Kim Sang-su, Policy Senior Secretary Yun Sang-eun and Public Affairs Senior Secretary Jang Hyeon-ju.


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