Ministry of the Interior and Safety Completes Follow-up Legislation Revisions for Full Amendment of the Local Autonomy Act Implementation

Regional Briefings for Local Governments on the 16th-17th

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[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced on the 14th that the "Enforcement Decree of the Local Autonomy Act (complete revision)" passed by the Cabinet meeting will be promulgated on the 16th. Accordingly, most of the necessary follow-up ordinances for the implementation of the completely revised Local Autonomy Act have been completed.

The main contents of this fully revised Enforcement Decree of the Local Autonomy Act include the concretization of the special city and city/county/district special system, specification of the title and duties of policy support professionals for local councils, and specification of reasons and procedures for changing the jurisdictional boundaries of local governments.

The enforcement decree stipulates that the Minister of the Interior and Safety shall prescribe the procedures and criteria for designating special city/county/districts. When a city/county/district discovers necessary authorities and applies for designation, the Minister of the Interior and Safety will designate the city/county/district as eligible for special status after deliberation by the Local Government Special Review Committee. The committee decides on the designation based on whether the special status is necessary to respond to the natural and social administrative demands of the local government, for the specialized development of the local government, or to overcome population decline areas.

The title and duties of policy support professionals who will professionally support the legislative activities of local council members are specifically defined. The title of the policy support professional is set as ‘Policy Support Officer,’ and the scope of duties is defined as collecting, investigating, and researching legislative materials and supporting legislative activities under the Local Autonomy Act. This aims to prevent the policy support professionals from being used as personal aides supporting the private affairs of local council members.

With the introduction of procedures for changing the jurisdictional boundaries of local governments, reasons for applying for boundary adjustment and methods for operating a voluntary boundary adjustment council are stipulated. By reviewing cases that actually require boundary adjustments, the reasons for applying for boundary adjustment are specified, and the voluntary boundary adjustment council is required to include more than half residents and experts, conduct surveys and public hearings to ensure boundary adjustments are based on residents’ opinions.

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety plans to hold briefing sessions for all city/province and city/county/district officials nationwide over two days from the 16th to the 17th in preparation for the enforcement of related ordinances on January 13 next year, and discuss follow-up measures such as ordinance and regulation revisions for local governments.

Minister Jeon Hae-cheol said, “With this complete revision of the Enforcement Decree of the Local Autonomy Act, the institutional foundation for promoting Autonomy 2.0, which strengthens the autonomy and capabilities of local governments and realizes resident-centered local autonomy, has been completed,” and added, “We will closely cooperate with local governments to ensure that related ordinances can be implemented smoothly on January 13 next year.”

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