Jeon Nam-do Councilor Na Gwang-guk Urges Amendment of Local Autonomy Act for Muan City Promotion

Na Gwang-guk, Jeonnam Provincial Assembly Member

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Jun-gyeong] Na Gwang-guk, Jeonnam Provincial Assembly member (Democratic Party of Korea·Muan 2), announced on the 15th that he has taken the lead in proposing the "Resolution to Urge the Revision of the Local Autonomy Act for the Promotion of Muan to City Status."

According to Assemblyman Na Gwang-guk, the current Local Autonomy Act requires that for the establishment of a ‘city’ in a mixed urban-rural form, the area must have an urban form and the county population must be above a certain level (a total population of 150,000).

However, Muan County’s population is currently only 86,000, and even if the entire Oryong district is developed, only about 20,000 more people would be added, making it difficult to exceed 150,000. Therefore, under the current law, promotion to city status is difficult.

Assemblyman Na stated, “We urged the government and the National Assembly to revise the Local Autonomy Act by adding a clause to Article 7, Paragraph 2, Item 5, stating that ‘a county where the provincial government office or provincial council is located may be designated as a city.’”

He continued, “Among the 17 cities and provinces nationwide, Muan County, along with Hongseong County and Yesan County in Chungnam, are the only ones that remain as county-level administrative districts despite being provincial government office locations, due to the unreasonable requirements for city establishment in the Local Autonomy Act.”

He added, “Muan County, as a key city in the southwest region and a center of administration, culture, and transportation, is a strategic location that has an administrative system as the provincial government office site and will play a central role in regional development in the era of local decentralization. We will strive to establish the status and role of Namak New Town as a metropolitan administrative city as the provincial government office location.”

This resolution is scheduled to be submitted to the first plenary session of the 350th extraordinary session on the 16th.

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