Pohang Mayor Lee Kang-deok: "Metropolitan Cities with Over 500,000 Residents Should Be Designated as Special Cities"

Elected Vice President at the National Large Cities Mayors Association Regular Meeting... President is Ansan Mayor Yun Hwa-seop

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Dong-wook] "Considering administrative demand and national balanced development, large cities with a population of over 500,000 should be designated as Special Cities."

At the '7th Regular Meeting of the National Large Cities Mayors' Council' held on the 8th in Jeonbuk, Lee Gang-deok, Mayor of Pohang City, who was appointed as the vice chairman of the council, made this assertion as his opening remark.

He also emphasized the need for a joint response at the council level, stating, "It is urgent to improve the inconvenience of residents' lives and the inefficiency of overlapping administration through administrative and financial autonomy at the metropolitan city level."

Established in 2003, the National Large Cities Mayors' Council consists of 15 basic local governments with populations over 500,000, excluding Seoul Special City and metropolitan cities. The council annually proposes decisions made at regular meetings on current issues to central government departments or suggests improvement measures.

The core focus of this regular meeting was the discussion of the full revision bill of the Local Autonomy Act, which is being pursued for the first time in 32 years, along with five related laws. Additionally, the council decided to propose 14 policy matters to the government, including improvements to the 'Act on the Recovery of Development Gains,' which was amended following the enactment of the Local Transfer Act.

For the next 18th executive team, Yoon Hwa-seop, Mayor of Ansan, was appointed as chairman, and Lee Gang-deok, Mayor of Pohang; Park Sang-don, Mayor of Cheonan; and Jo Gwang-han, Mayor of Namyangju, were appointed as vice chairmen.

Meanwhile, the population of Pohang City has consistently remained above 500,000 since the integration of the former Pohang City and Yeongil County in 1995. The population first surpassed 510,000 in 2008 and 520,000 in 2011, maintaining an upward trend until it fell below 520,000 again at the end of July 2017 (519,957). As of the end of June, the population of Pohang City (according to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety's resident registration population status) is 504,461.

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