In 2003, then-President Roh Moo-hyun sought to relocate the national capital of South Korea from the metropolitan city of Seoul to a new multifunctional administrative city in the centre of the country. The goal was to reduce the influence and dominance of Seoul on national governance and economics, whilst promoting the regional development of other areas of the country. According to the former Interior Minister Maeng Hyung-gyu in 2012, "Sejong is a symbol of the country’s efforts toward more balanced regional development," helping to decongest Seoul and spur investment in the country’s central region.