(Breaking) Suwon City Finally Becomes 'Special Metropolitan City'... Local Autonomy Act Amended for First Time in 32 Years

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Seo Dong-young] 'Special Metropolitan City designation' – Suwon City has finally fulfilled its long-cherished wish.

The 'Comprehensive Amendment to the Local Autonomy Act' passed the National Assembly plenary session on the 9th, marking the first amendment to the Local Autonomy Act in 32 years.

The National Assembly held a plenary session that afternoon and passed the 'Comprehensive Amendment to the Local Autonomy Act,' which grants the designation 'Special Metropolitan City' to major cities with populations of over 1 million, with 238 votes in favor, 7 against, and 27 abstentions among 272 members present.

With the amendment to the Local Autonomy Act, Suwon City and other major cities with populations exceeding 1 million will be granted the designation 'Special Metropolitan City.'

Suwon Mayor Yeom Tae-young issued a welcoming statement, saying, "The Comprehensive Amendment to the Local Autonomy Act will serve as a cornerstone to institutionalize the status, authority, and position of basic local governments," and added, "We will move forward toward local autonomy and decentralization alongside our citizens so that our nation can be reborn as a country where citizens are the masters."

He further stated, "The provision of special exceptions for cities, counties, and districts that consider administrative demand, national balanced development, and the crisis of local depopulation is a great step forward, allowing each municipality to put on clothes that fit its own circumstances and implement diverse administrative services."

He continued, "It is welcome news for citizens who have endured numerous inconveniences due to administrative and financial gaps despite the city's metropolitan-level scale. However, we have much work ahead of us."

He went on to say, "To secure more authority befitting the status of a Special Metropolitan City and to lead the development of our region, we must continue consultations with the National Assembly, the government, and the metropolitan local government," and urged, "After a one-year preparation period, we request the support of our citizens so that the 'Special Metropolitan City' can successfully launch in January 2022."

The Comprehensive Amendment to the Local Autonomy Act includes provisions that grant the designation 'Special Metropolitan City' to 'cities with populations of 1 million or more and cities designated by the Minister of the Interior and Safety according to standards and procedures determined by presidential decree, considering substantial administrative demand, national balanced development, and the crisis of local depopulation.'

'Special Metropolitan City designation' has been a long-standing wish of Suwon City. With a population of 1.23 million, Suwon City is metropolitan-scale in size but suffers relative discrimination in the number of civil servants and budget allocations because it is not a metropolitan city. This is why Mayor Yeom Tae-young made 'realization of Suwon Special Metropolitan City' a key pledge of his seventh term of office.

As of the end of June 2020, Suwon City's population was approximately 1.23 million, 700,000 more than Ulsan Metropolitan City (approximately 1.16 million), but its number of civil servants stands at 3,515, only 63.6% of Ulsan City's (excluding firefighters). The city's budget scale is 73.2% of Ulsan City's.

Suwon residents, as citizens of a basic local government, received fewer benefits compared to citizens of metropolitan governments with smaller populations. It is expected that designation as a Special Metropolitan City will resolve some of these inequities.

'Special Metropolitan City' is a new type of local government that maintains the status of a basic local government while securing administrative and financial autonomy rights befitting metropolitan-level status and is granted legal status differentiated from ordinary cities. It can be viewed as an intermediate form between metropolitan and basic local governments.

While the 'Local Autonomy Act Enforcement Decree' stipulates special provisions for cities with populations over 500,000, the reality is that it fails to substantially reflect the administrative and financial capabilities, industrial structure characteristics, and population-scale characteristics of local governments.

With designation as a Special Metropolitan City, Suwon City faces major changes. Since the amendment to the Local Autonomy Act only grants the administrative designation 'Special Metropolitan City,' Suwon must secure administrative and functional authority befitting a Special Metropolitan City through amendments to the Local Autonomy Act Enforcement Decree and the Local Decentralization Act going forward.

▲Strengthening autonomous financial capacity based on fiscal decentralization ▲Enabling provision of administrative services befitting population scale ▲Granting Special Metropolitan City status and authority differentiated from ordinary cities ▲Expansion of authority through transfer of functions and customized administrative services to meet metropolitan administrative demand are expected. Additionally, the city's brand value can be enhanced.

Meanwhile, Suwon, Changwon, Goyang, and Yongin cities signed a 'Win-Win Cooperation Agreement for the Realization of Special Metropolitan Cities with Populations of 1 Million' in August 2018, and held a launch ceremony for the 'Special Metropolitan City Promotion Joint Planning Group' in September, cooperating actively with each other.