Daegu Meeting of Provincial Governors Association Replaced by 'Video Conference'... Mayor Kwon Young-jin Presides Over Final Session

Evaluation of Significant Achievements in 'Expansion and Strengthening of Decentralization' During One-Year Term as Chairman

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Dong-wook] Kwon Young-jin, Chairman of the Korea Association of Provincial Governors (Mayor of Daegu), canceled the 46th General Assembly originally scheduled to be held on the 6th at the Hotel Inter-Burgo Daegu due to heavy rain concentrated in the central region and replaced it with an emergency video conference.

According to Daegu City on the 5th, this general assembly will discuss major issues including ▲ COVID-19 response progress and future tasks ▲ legislative promotion related to local decentralization by the 21st National Assembly ▲ promotion and response to fiscal decentralization ▲ functional reorganization of six special local administrative agencies ▲ joint response to the local extinction crisis.

The provincial governors are expected to adopt the "Joint Statement of Korea’s Provincial Governors for Strengthening Regional Public Healthcare Systems and Revitalizing the Local Economy" through the video conference in the post-COVID-19 era.

Mayor Kwon Young-jin of Daegu will step down from the chairman position after this general assembly, having taken office as the 13th chairman of the Korea Association of Provincial Governors on July 24 last year. As the first Daegu mayor ever elected as chairman of the Korea Association of Provincial Governors, Mayor Kwon is evaluated to have significantly expanded local authority by aligning the association’s major agendas with strengthening local decentralization and balanced development during his one-year tenure.

Immediately after taking office as chairman last year, he visited the Speaker of the National Assembly and floor leaders of each party to strongly demand the passage of local decentralization legislation, resulting in the passage of the "Local Transfer Act," which transfers 400 central government affairs to local governments in January this year. In December last year, he also succeeded in passing the "Stage 1 Fiscal Decentralization Related Legal Amendment," which finalized the increase of the local consumption tax rate to 10%, leading to an increase of about 8.5 trillion KRW in local tax revenue.

At the 45th Gwangju General Assembly last year, the association adopted a government recommendation letter in the name of the nationwide provincial governors’ association, calling for the ideological value of the Daegu 2.28 Democratic Movement to be included in the preamble of the Constitution, thereby imprinting the spirit of 2.28 nationwide.

Chairman Kwon Young-jin said, "Through this Daegu general assembly, I wanted to share information from the field that is successfully overcoming COVID-19 and express my gratitude to the provincial governors who have supported Daegu so far," adding, "However, it is quite regrettable that the meeting was suddenly replaced by a video conference due to the heavy rain in the central region."

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