Han Dong-hoon, center, interim leader of the ruling People Power Party (PPP), holds his arms up with PPP candidates contesting for constituencies in Incheon's Michuhol District during a canvassing event at Michuhol, Wednesday. Joint Press Corps

The ruling People Power Party's (PPP) abrupt proposal to relocate the National Assembly from Seoul to the adminstrative town of Sejong has been met with skepticism by observers, who view it as a move to salvage the party's falling approval ratings with an attention-grabbing yet hardly-feasible agenda.

PPP interim leader Han Dong-hoon announced on Wednesday a campaign pledge to relocate the Assembly to Sejong, emphasizing the city's status as an administrative hub with numerous ministries and public agencies. The move is positioned as a significant aspect of the party's platform for the upcoming April 10 general elections.

He said while Sejong can be transformed into a political and administrative capital similar to Washington, D.C., redevelopment plans for Yeouido, which is the current location of the Assembly and is also the capital's finance and investment banking hub, will be accelerated through eased regulations without the legislature, he added.

"We will fully relocate the National Assembly to Sejong, not partially, to make the city a political capital. The current parliamentary space will be repurposed into a hub for culture and finance, to be returned to the citizens," Han said during a press conference.

Hours after Han's announcement, the presidential office said President Yoon Suk Yeol had pledged to establish an Assembly branch in Sejong during his 2022 election campaign, indicating apparent support for the governing party's relocation plan.

"In a meeting with reporters in the Daejeon and Chungcheong regions in July 2021, the president articulated his belief that the legislative body and administrative organization should be situated in close proximity to each other to enhance the parliamentary system and reinforce the effectiveness of the administrative structure," the presidential office said in a statement.

It also announced plans to accelerate the establishment of a second presidential office in Sejong, aligning with one of Yoon's campaign pledges.

The idea of moving the Assembly to Sejong is not new.

Following the passage of a revision bill to the National Assembly Act in December 2021, construction of a regional branch of the legislative body has kicked off in Sejong, aiming to accommodate several of the Assembly's standing committees by 2030 for more efficiency in collaboration between the Assembly and ministries there.

Political commentator Park Sang-byeong viewed the introduction of an accelerated version of this project by the PPP as an attempt to bolster the party's low approval ratings.

"The current election landscape is shifting unfavorably for the PPP, prompting the party to attempt to reverse the situation by introducing new agenda items to attract media attention," Park said.

Wednesday's press conference by Han was notified to reporters the night before with a vague agenda labeled as "general issues." The abrupt arrangement and announcement seemed to be aimed at generating heightened media attention.

An aerial view of Sejong Government Complex / Korea Times file

While the pledge may garner attention from voters in the Chungcheong region surrounding Sejong or from residents of Yeouido, it is unlikely to be a decisive factor in the elections, Park noted.

"Given the bumpy and lengthy history of previous government efforts to relocate central government organizations to Sejong, the public is well aware that moving the Assembly would be no simple task either. Plus, announcing such a pledge with only two weeks left until the elections could be perceived as lacking sincerity," he said.

Choi Chang-ryul, a political commentator and professor at Yongin University, said that the party's attention-grabbing pledge could help quell the public's negative sentiment about the Yoon Suk Yeol administration.

"The PPP has undeniably sparked considerable buzz with this pledge, just days before the elections. This move could potentially overshadow the opposition parties' campaign message, which emphasizes the upcoming elections as an opportunity to deliver a harsh verdict on the Yoon administration's handling of state affairs," he said.

The ruling bloc has seen a decline in support in recent weeks.

According to a poll released on Monday, Yoon's job approval rating has kept falling from 41.9 percent at the end of February to 36.5 percent. The support rate for the PPP was 37.1 percent, down 0.8 percentage point. The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) saw its support rate rise 2 percentage points to 42.8 percent. Real Meter surveyed 1,004 adults during March 21-22 at the request of Energy Economy News Daily with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. Further details are available on the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission's website.

Sejong City issued a statement welcoming the relocation plan, expressing hope for active discussions at the Assembly.

"It is clear that the relocation of the National Assembly will serve as a catalyst for balanced development of the nation, as well as the achievement of Sejong City's long-standing pursuit of becoming the administrative capital," the statement read.

The DPK maintained a cautious stance. While it agreed with the relocation plan itself, as the project had been advocated by previous liberal governments, it criticized the ruling party for coming up with the seemingly populist pledge to woo voters.

"Considering that the presidential campaign pledge to construct a second presidential office in Sejong remains unfulfilled, the Assembly relocation plan appears to be another election tactic to gain votes from the Chungcheong region," the DPK's Sejong branch said in a statement.

Back in 2003, the Assembly passed a special law to establish a new administrative capital in Sejong, following then-President Roh Moo-hyun's campaign pledge for balanced development between the capital and non-capital areas. But in 2004, the Constitutional Court ruled that the law was unconstitutional. It said a country's capital is where the presidential office, parliament and administrative organizations are gathered, and Seoul being the capital was an established fact according to the "customary Constitution."

Following that ruling, the Roh administration decided to relocate only parts of government ministries, which now comprise the Sejong administrative town.