Opposition Warns Against Moving Foreign and Defense Ministries to Sejong

South Korea’s main opposition People Power Party on Thursday sharply criticized the government’s plan to relocate dozens of ministries and public agencies to Sejong, focusing its objections on the proposed transfer of the foreign and defense ministries.

The government has decided to move 44 ministries and agencies to the central administrative city by 2031. The opposition argues that including institutions responsible for diplomacy and national defense could disrupt coordination during emergencies and fragment key national security functions.

Rep. Joo Ho-young, a six-term lawmaker and former vice speaker of the National Assembly, called for the plan to be withdrawn at a news conference in Seoul. He said that, because the Korean Peninsula remains divided under an armistice, rapid communication and decision-making among wartime leaders are essential. Moving the defense ministry without sufficiently detailed security measures, he argued, could weaken the capital’s defense posture.

Joo also raised concerns about the practical impact on foreign missions. Seoul hosts embassies representing 118 countries, while Sejong lies well south of the capital. Relocating the foreign ministry could therefore leave embassies facing a choice between moving some operations or repeatedly traveling between the two cities, he said. The result, in the opposition’s view, could be higher costs and less efficient diplomatic engagement.

The PPP’s policy committee chair, Rep. Lim Lee-ja, separately described the relocation initiative as rushed and poorly designed. She disputed the government’s apparent expectation that transferring about 10,000 central government employees would help ease pressure on Seoul’s housing market. Lim said the move would instead risk dividing the government’s command structure for security and emergency response.

The dispute places two policy goals in direct tension. Expanding Sejong’s role is intended to reduce the concentration of government functions in Seoul and reinforce the administrative city’s position as a national center. The PPP, however, says ministries with sensitive diplomatic, military and crisis-management duties require a different assessment from ordinary administrative bodies.

The opposition’s intervention does not itself reverse the relocation decision, but it signals that implementation is likely to face sustained political scrutiny. The debate will turn on whether the government can demonstrate that communications, command arrangements and diplomatic access will remain effective after the transfers, particularly for agencies whose work is closely tied to the capital’s security and foreign-policy infrastructure.