Special City Mayors Council Amends Membership Criteria to 'Upon Reaching 1 Million Population'

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Park No-hun] Yongin Special City Mayor Lee Sang-il attended the 'Regular Meeting of the Republic of Korea Special City Mayors Council' held on the 5th at the KINTEX 2nd Exhibition Hall in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, and shared opinions on strengthening the autonomy of special city administration.

The meeting was attended by Lee Sang-il, who is concluding his one-year tenure as chairman of the special city mayors council, along with Suwon Mayor Lee Jae-jun, Goyang Mayor Lee Dong-hwan, and Changwon Mayor Hong Nam-pyo.

At the meeting, the special city mayors decided to submit a 'motion urging the enactment of a special law on support for special cities' containing the legal status and comprehensive authority of special cities to the government and National Assembly.

With the 'Local Era Committee,' which will replace the 'Presidential Committee for Local Autonomy,' poised to launch, the mayors decided to urge the speedy promotion of the third batch of local transfer of functions to ensure that special affairs previously decided by the autonomy committee are included in existing laws.

To strengthen the role of the special city mayors council, the council agreed to amend the bylaws and rules of procedure to set the membership criteria for associate members as 'upon reaching 1 million population.'

While the current Local Autonomy Act recognizes only large cities maintaining a population of over 1 million for two consecutive years as special cities, the council's bylaw amendment aims to accept associate members and make joint efforts to strengthen special city authority.

Accordingly, Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, which saw its population increase to approximately 950,000 earlier this year, is expected to become an associate member of special cities in about a year.

The four special cities, led by Yongin Special City Mayor Lee Sang-il as chairman of the council over the past year, have undertaken legal preparation for securing special authority, strengthening external cooperation, and conducting research projects to secure justification for transfer of special authority.

The policy research institutes of the four special cities jointly reviewed precedents of local government special laws and overseas cases through collaborative research and drafted an initial bill for a special law on support for special cities.

The bill includes provisions for the legal status of special cities, comprehensive special authority in areas such as organization and finance, and establishment of a 'Special Cities Support Committee.'

The four special cities held a National Assembly forum in February at the National Assembly Members' Hall attended by approximately 200 participants, including special city mayors, National Assembly members, and officials from the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, to gather opinions.

Mayor Lee Sang-il stated, "If we have launched special cities with populations exceeding 1 million, it is appropriate for the National Assembly and central government to provide legal and institutional support so that special cities can exercise sufficient authority and autonomy and provide customized administration for citizens," adding, "The four special city mayors will make further efforts to ensure the enactment of the special law on support for special cities."

Over the past year, the four special cities, in addition to activities for special law enactment, have also undertaken efforts to secure individual authority for special cities.

Mayor Lee Sang-il arranged a meeting with Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min and special city mayors in October of last year.

Mayor Lee and others presented five demands to strengthen autonomy of special cities, and Minister Lee accepted four items: expanding and activating the composition and operation of the special cities support council, strengthening the local era committee's support functions for special cities, promoting the third batch of local transfer of functions, and increasing training positions for special city senior public officials.

The four special cities commissioned the Korea Institute for Local Finance Research to study 'methods to strengthen special city fiscal privileges,' and the Yongin City Policy Research Institute is conducting research on 'quasi-metropolitan special city model conceptualization and administrative response measures.'

Meanwhile, at the meeting, following Mayor Lee Sang-il, Goyang Special City Mayor Lee Dong-hwan was elected as the next chairman of the special city mayors council, and Suwon Mayor Lee Jae-jun was elected as auditor.