Pursuit of 'Complete Revision of the Local Autonomy Act' After 32 Years ... Submission of Customary Law Bill to the National Assembly

Ministry of the Interior and Safety Strengthens Autonomy While Ensuring Accountability and Transparency

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] After 32 years since 1988, a full revision of the Local Autonomy Act is being implemented. The aim is to reposition residents, who have so far remained objects of local administration, as the true owners of their regions, and to promote measures to resolve chronic issues such as the lack of autonomy, responsibility, and transparency in local governments.

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced on the 2nd that the "Full Revision of the Local Autonomy Act," along with the enactment and revision of laws such as the "Resident Ordinance Proposal Act," "Central-Local Cooperation Council Act," "Local Public Officials Act," "Local Public Officials Education and Training Act," and the "Special Act on Local Autonomy Decentralization and Local Administrative System Reform," passed the Cabinet meeting on the 30th of last month and will be submitted to the National Assembly. These bills were resubmitted after partial modification and supplementation following their automatic expiration due to the end of the 20th National Assembly's term.

The revision explicitly states that the purpose of the Local Autonomy Act includes provisions on residents' participation in local administration and newly establishes residents' rights to participate in local policy decision-making and execution processes. Additionally, based on the Local Autonomy Act, the "Resident Ordinance Proposal Act" is enacted to allow residents to directly propose ordinances to the council, and participation age is lowered from 19 to 18 years to promote resident participation, alongside resident audits and resident lawsuits.

Focus is also placed on strengthening the capabilities of working local governments and expanding their autonomy. To prevent arbitrary task allocation by the central government, principles of subsidiarity, non-overlap, and self-responsibility in task allocation are newly introduced, and obligations for compliance by the state and local governments are imposed.

Furthermore, to flexibly respond to the rapidly increasing administrative demands, local governments may autonomously appoint one deputy mayor or deputy governor responsible for specific tasks (two for populations over 5 million), and "Special Cities" will be designated by presidential decree among metropolitan cities with populations over 1 million and 500,000 to enhance the status of metropolitan administration.

The appointment authority of city and provincial council staff, currently held by the city or provincial governor, will be transferred to the chairperson of the city or provincial council to strengthen the independence of the council. The basis for introducing "policy support professionals" to assist local council members in autonomous legislation, budget review, and administrative audits will also be established.

Transparency and accountability commensurate with enhanced autonomy will also be secured. Local councils' legislative activities, the executive branch's organization and finances, and other major information of local governments will be actively disclosed, and an information disclosure system will be established to improve residents' access to information.

Additionally, to enhance the ethics and accountability of local councils and prevent lenient disciplinary actions such as "covering for one's own," the establishment of an Ethics Special Committee will be mandated. More specific provisions on the prohibition of concurrent positions will be stipulated to prevent local council members from gaining undue benefits through their duties.

Moreover, to allow major local stakeholders to participate in the national policy decision-making process affecting localities, the "Central-Local Cooperation Council Act" based on the Local Autonomy Act will institutionalize meetings between the President and city/provincial governors. Procedures will also be established to resolve disputes through the Central Dispute Mediation Committee when agreements on boundary adjustments between local governments cannot be reached, addressing residents' inconveniences caused by differences between administrative and living areas.

Yoon Jong-in, Vice Minister of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, stated, "This revision is a step to upgrade the local autonomy system, which can be called the operating system of local administration, and will serve as a foundation for residents' lives to change substantially and for localities to grow through creativity and innovation." He added, "In the 21st National Assembly, we will closely cooperate with the National Assembly to ensure that the expectations of residents and local governments for groundbreaking decentralization of power are realized and that legislation is completed promptly."

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