President Roh Moo-hyun says the government will finalize a plan by the end of the year to transform the Seoul metropolitan area into a financial and high-tech industrial center.

The plan would take effect after the relocation of the capital to the central part of the nation in a decade.

He also said the government is devising projects to develop tourism and leisure towns in the southern and western parts of the country as part of a broader plan to promote balanced national development.

The president made his comments in a dinner meeting with business editors of local media.

Mr. Roh said the government will ease business regulations in Seoul to rebuild the city as a center for financial and high-tech business.

The remarks came amid growing opposition from his political rivals and conservative media to his plan to build a new capital.

The government plans to move 85 public institutions, including the National Assembly and the Constitutional Court, to the new administrative capital in Korea's central region by 2014.

Opponents have called for a referendum, calling the plan a huge waste of national resources at a time when the country needs to focus on coping with an ongoing economic slump.