South Korea on Monday officially launched a new administrative city, a source of partisan acrimony for the past decade.

Sejong City, 120 km south of Seoul, will eventually house 36 government ministries and agencies by 2014. Its current population of 120,000 is projected to jump to 500,000 by 2030.

"(The launch of) the city will mark a turning point in terms of the country's balanced regional development," Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik said during a ceremony marking the inauguration of the 17th metropolitan autonomous entity in the nation.

The relocation plan was envisaged by former late President Roh Moo-hyun, whose election win in 2002 was partially owed to support from swing voters in South and North Chungcheong provinces, where the new city lies.

The ambitious plan was aimed at addressing regional disparity and helping unburden Seoul, a megalopolis with a population of over 10 million, of its multiple functions as the capital.

Roh's successor Lee Myung-bak, who also campaigned on the relocation project, attempted to scrap the plan when he took office in 2008, citing administrative inefficiency.

Lee's move to build a business and science hub, instead of a new administrative city, was thwarted by parliamentary votes in 2010.