Legislative Forum on Special Metropolitan City Status for Cities with Population Over 1 Million

On the 25th, a 'Legislative Forum on Special Metropolitan City Status for Cities with Population Over 1 Million' was held at the National Assembly Member Hall.

The forum was hosted by National Assembly members from the Suwon region, and jointly organized by six cities pursuing special city status, including Suwon, Goyang, Seongnam, Yongin in Gyeonggi Province, Changwon in South Gyeongsang Province, and Cheongju in North Chungcheong Province. It took place in Conference Room 1 of the National Assembly Member Hall.

The forum proceeded with opening remarks by Shim Dae-pyeong, Chairman of the Local Autonomy Development Committee, an opening address by a National Assembly member from the Suwon region, keynote presentations, and discussions.

Park Sang-woo, research fellow at the Suwon City Research Institute, who delivered the keynote presentation, said, "Article 117, Paragraph 2 of the Constitution stipulates that the types of local governments shall be determined by law, so it is possible to create new types of local governments in the 'Local Autonomy Act.'" He added, "It would be desirable to amend the law in a direction that grants the maximum policy incentives in the areas of functions, organization, and finances for special cities and designated cities, thereby securing corresponding status and titles."

Park further stated, "Comprehensively transferring the affairs of the current metropolitan governments to large cities among basic local governments that have relatively well-established systems aligns with the paradigm of decentralization."

Mayor Yeum Tae-young said, "Despite being a presidential state agenda, the legislation on special status for large cities with a population of over 1 million has remained unresolved," and continued, "The special status legislation for large cities is an unavoidable task—one that allows (cities with over 1 million population) to shed ill-fitting clothes."

Professor Choi Byeong-dae of Hanyang University's Department of Public Administration, who served as the forum's moderator, emphasized, "Among countries implementing local autonomy systems, there is no country other than Korea that places both 10,000-population and 1.25-million-population local governments under a single system." He added, "Constitutional reform for local autonomy and decentralization must be achieved, and the central government must take the lead in facilitating this reform."