President Lee Myung-bak is concerned that even after the “Dialogue with the President” broadcast, public support for the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project and revisions to the Sejong City Development Plan remains low. According to the public opinion poll conducted by the Korea Research Center at the behest of the Dong-A Ilbo, only 38.1 percent responded positively to the broadcast, whereas 48.7 percent responded negatively.

Upon hearing the results, President Lee asks aloud as he grips one of the robot fish that he made reference to in his broadcast as part of his promise that the river construction project is about ensuring a greater supply of clean water, “Wouldn’t it be a good idea to put a Robocop in Sejong City?”

The public and researchers have been critical of the river project as a potential environmental disaster riddled with construction company bid-rigging. Meanwhile critics of President Lee’s plan for revising the Sejong City Development Plan say that he is back-peddling on a commitment to ensure balanced regional development in order to maintain a his fraction’s stronghold in the capital region.

(Hankyoreh Geurimpan, December 1, 2009)