Ganghwa County Governor Park Yong-chul Urges Government to Include Gyeonggi-Incheon Depopulation Areas in 'Local Priority Policy'

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Choi Ki-ho] On the 27th, Ganghwa County Governor Park Yong-chul held a press conference at the National Assembly Communication Hall with three other local government heads from depopulation areas in Gyeonggi-Incheon (Ongjin County, Gapyeong County, and Yeoncheon County), urging the government to include Gyeonggi-Incheon depopulation areas in its local priority policy initiatives aimed at balanced growth.

While the government has provided greater support to depopulation areas in policies such as livelihood recovery support payments and regional love gift card activation initiatives, it has recently established certain local priority policies targeting non-capital region areas only, such as the recently announced plan to revitalize local economies through consumption cooperation.

At the press conference, National Assembly members and county governors from the respective regions stated, "Ganghwa, Ongjin, Gapyeong, and Yeoncheon counties have been excluded from various government support policies simply because they are designated as capital region areas under the Capital Region Readjustment Planning Act, and they continue to be excluded from local priority policies being pursued by the current government." They appealed, "Policy implementation that fails to account for the difficult reality and financial circumstances these areas face as both depopulation and border areas contradicts the fundamental purpose of national policy on balanced regional development and overcoming local extinction."

At this occasion, Governor Park Yong-chul stated, "Ganghwa County is strongly pursuing the designation of the Ganghwa Economic Free Zone and the establishment of the National Ganghwa Goryeo Museum as our top priorities to overcome the population decline crisis and achieve sustainable growth." He emphasized, "Considering the difficult regional circumstances including recent loudspeaker noise attacks from the North and unfounded radiation rumors causing economic stagnation and damage to our clean region image, policy consideration for the national projects pursued by Ganghwa County is urgently needed."

Meanwhile, the four depopulation areas in Gyeonggi-Incheon plan to jointly pursue various population policies, including discovering projects linked to the Local Extinction Response Fund and developing practical population attraction measures.