Agreement on Hiring Policy Support Officers for City and Provincial Councilors Within Legal Quotas, Efforts to Establish New Directors in Local Council Secretariat Departments

Kim In-ho, Chairman of the Korea Council of Provincial and Metropolitan Council Chairpersons, Holds Meeting with Jeon Hae-cheol, Minister of the Interior and Safety, on the 20th

[Asia Economy Reporter Jong-il Park] Kim In-ho, Chairman of the Korea Council of Provincial and Metropolitan City Councils (Chairman of the Seoul Metropolitan Council), along with six other council executives, held a meeting with Jeon Hae-cheol, Minister of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, at 2 p.m. on the 2nd in the large conference room of the Government Sejong 2 Complex. They discussed measures for the development of local councils, including the employment of policy support officers within the legal quota for local council members and the establishment of department and bureau heads in the secretariat of provincial and metropolitan city councils.

First, regarding the employment quota for policy support officers scheduled to be introduced on January 13, 2022, the Minister of the Interior and Safety agreed that new hires should be made within the quota stipulated by the Local Autonomy Act (one-quarter of the number of council members in 2022, and one-half in 2023).

Minister Jeon also emphasized the need to resolve the issue of exceeding the quota by reallocating duties after the system's introduction for personnel currently performing similar tasks to policy support officers within the local council secretariat. The attending chairpersons of the provincial and metropolitan city councils also agreed with this point.

Regarding the proposal to establish grade 2 and grade 3 department and bureau head positions in the secretariat of provincial and metropolitan city councils, the Minister responded that efforts would be made to improve the rank system so that local councils and executive bodies can negotiate work on an equal footing.

Furthermore, Minister Jeon expressed his intention to fully listen to the opinions of local councils on a series of necessary legal amendments for improving the local council system, including revisions to the enforcement decree of the Local Autonomy Act, and to actively reflect feasible parts in future legal amendments starting with those that can be implemented first.

Attending the meeting were Kim In-ho, Chairman of the Korea Council of Provincial and Metropolitan City Councils; Kwon Jung-soon, Chairman of the Daejeon Metropolitan Council; Kim Yong-jip, Chairman of the Gwangju Metropolitan Council; Park Byung-seok, Chairman of the Ulsan Metropolitan Council; Go Woo-hyun, Chairman of the Gyeongsangbuk-do Council; and Lee Tae-hwan, Chairman of the Sejong Special Self-Governing City Council.

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