KOREA: City bans ads on capital relocation

The Seoul Metropolitan Government yesterday slapped a ban on subway ads by the central government which describe Seoul as inferior to rival capitals like Mexico City and Beijing and not a good place to live in

The Korea Herald
Wednesday, August 4, 2004

By O Youn-hee

The ads were part of the central government's campaign to promote President Roh Moo-hyun's controversial plan to relocate the nation's administrative capital to South Chungcheong Province,

The metropolitan government also initially gave permission for illustrated relocation posters in Seoul subway trains for one month starting Aug.1 but reversed its decision after judging the ads as inappropriate, Seoul city official Chang Sung-myeong said.

The city government stripped the posters from Seoul's subways and officially asked the central government to remove similar posters distributed to Busan, Incheon, Gwangju and Daegu.

The posters were tentatively put in Seoul subway trains July 28 but drew immediate public protests, and upset the city government.

One poster illustrates a cartoon of a frustrated Korean man, standing in a small circle that represents Seoul, looking on as a Chinese man swishes through Beijing's Tiananmen Square on his bicycle.

Next to the picture is a chart titled "The Ten Reasons Why Foreign Companies Choose Beijing Rather Than Seoul," with the text talking about Seoul's limitations as a regional financial center.

Another advertisement uses a similar tactic in comparing Seoul to Mexico City, with the message saying the "quality of life" in Seoul ranks the lowest among the 30 largest cities in the world.

Central government agencies put 4,000 of the posters in Seoul's subway trains and more than 2,000 in four other cities.

By law, the Seoul Metropolitan Subway Corporation must review the contents of subway advertisements before they are posted but city officials said the process was circumvented in this instance.

"What would it serve national interests for the central government to degrade the local government by insisting the capital city is inferior to Beijing or Mexico City?," Seoul city spokesman Park Myung-hyun said at a news briefing July 29, the day after the first posters appeared .

Asked about the city government's criticism, the Government Information Agency, which produced the posters with the Presidential Committee on Administrative Capital Relocation, said there was no intention to degrade Seoul.

"We just used irony to promote the central government's will to raise Seoul's competitiveness and Seoul citizens' quality of life. Seoul city's reaction is oversensitive," the GIA said.

But Seoul city's Chung said, "Irony used in an advertisement is a skill to emphasize the contents you want to highlight. Everybody must catch what the advertiser really wanted to say, seeing the advertisements.

"However, the government intentionally degraded Seoul city to achieve its goal to relocate governmental bodies out of Seoul. It is not irony."

The subway ads were based on documents comparing Seoul's competitiveness with other cities released by Samsung Economic Research Institute in 1997, the city government said.

The evaluation targeted 30 cities from 16 nations and rated three sections, the quality of life, economic conditions and citizen consciousness.

In the overall rankings, Seoul was 19th, Mexico City 20th and Beijing 23rd, the city said.

In the economic development section, Seoul was 18th, Mexico 24th and Beijing 26th. In citizen consciousness, Seoul was 18th, Mexico 21st and Beijing 29th.

Seoul only had bad marks, ranking 30th, in the quality of life section but the central government distorted the material, the city government alleged.

"Moreover, the reason why foreign companies choose Beijing or Mexico City rather than Seoul is not because of Seoul's inferior competitiveness but because of this nation's high production costs, frequent disputes between labor and managements and lack of conveniences for foreigners," Chung said.

Date Posted: 8/4/2004