Daejeon City and Jung-gu Office Resume Personnel Exchanges and Resolve Conflicts

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] As the conflict between Daejeon City and Jung-gu Office, which began over the appointment of the deputy district mayor, enters a reconciliation phase, the previously halted personnel exchanges between public officials are expected to resume.

The city announced on the 4th that it has agreed with Jung-gu Office to resume personnel exchanges for public officials at grade 3 and below, thereby restarting personnel exchanges between the city hall and district office.

Accordingly, both sides will conduct personnel exchanges for public officials including grades 3 and 4 between the city and district offices starting from July through mutual consultation and recommendation.

Additionally, the city plans to hold a transfer exam in the first half of the year to select qualified candidates and facilitate transfers for Jung-gu employees at grade 6 and below who requested additional transfers to city hall. The city will also centrally manage the recruitment exams for the five autonomous districts and continue to properly implement long-term training for employees at grade 6 and below.

Previously, the city and district had been in conflict since the end of last year over the appointment of the deputy district mayor. The disagreement stemmed from the city’s intention to appoint a grade 3 public official from city hall as the deputy district mayor of the basic local government (district office), which the district office challenged based on existing precedent.

Amid this, on the 2nd of last month, the district held a personnel committee meeting and promoted an internal grade 4 official to deputy district mayor the following day. However, the city declared a suspension of personnel exchanges and threatened to withhold grant payments in response to the district’s forced appointment, escalating the conflict further.

At that time, Daejeon Mayor Heo Tae-jung expressed at an expanded executive meeting, “We deeply regret the unilateral personnel decision made by Jung-gu,” and emphasized, “Personnel exchanges between the city and district should naturally proceed through mutual agreement and coordination, considering the overall circumstances of both sides.”

However, the burden on both the city and district was significant, as the conflict could cause personnel stagnation within the district office.

For example, the city originally planned to deliver an official document mandating the implementation of the '2020 Local Government Talent Development Institute Long-term Training' to each district office by the 22nd of last month. But due to unresolved personnel exchange issues with Jung-gu, the delivery was delayed, raising concerns inside and outside the city and district offices that the long-term training scheduled for the 11th of this month might be disrupted. Such disruption could make it difficult to avoid personnel stagnation among district public officials.

For the same reason, it has been confirmed that the city and district have been conducting behind-the-scenes negotiations since early this year to resolve the conflict. Through this negotiation process, both sides reached a final agreement to resume personnel exchanges on the afternoon of the 3rd, according to the city and district.

A city official stated, “We have aligned our intentions with Jung-gu for mutual communication, cooperation, and strengthening organizational capabilities,” adding, “The city will continue to strive to ensure that personnel exchanges with autonomous districts can progress further.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.