Amendment to the Local Autonomy Act Including 6 Key Special City Tasks Passes National Assembly's Public Administration Committee

Changwon City Hall. [Image source=Changwon City]

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Sang-hyun] The "Special Act on Decentralization of Local Government and Reorganization of Local Administrative System," which contains the authority of special cities, passed the plenary session of the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee on the 9th.

The Local Decentralization Act was jointly proposed to the National Assembly last November by the members of the National Assembly from the four special cities (Changwon, Suwon, Yongin, Goyang).

The bill includes 16 core functions of special cities that have been reviewed by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and relevant ministries. Regarding this, the Presidential Committee on Autonomy and Decentralization also decided to transfer 12 functions.

At this plenary session, six functions and 121 related unit tasks were passed, including the development and operation of port facilities at locally managed trade ports, management of shared waters within port areas of locally managed trade ports, mountain area use permits, environmental improvement charges, the composition and operation of the local construction technology review committee, and the development and operation of logistics complexes.

Heo Seong-moo, Mayor of Changwon, Gyeongnam, said, "The special tasks included in the amendment to the Local Decentralization Act are the minimum requirements for the newly launched Changwon Special City to successfully settle," adding, "In particular, the two functions related to ports and 101 unit tasks are significant because only Changwon among the four special cities is responsible for these tasks."

He further expressed his ambition, saying, "Based on the maritime port autonomy secured through the legal amendment, we will make Changwon Special City the center of Korea's new Silk Road."

The bill will then undergo systematic and grammatical review by the Legislation and Judiciary Committee before being submitted to the plenary session of the National Assembly. Once the Local Decentralization Act is finally amended, the relevant tasks will be transferred to the special cities after a one-year preparation period stipulated in the supplementary provisions following the promulgation of the law.

Meanwhile, at the same plenary session of the Public Administration and Security Committee, the amendment to the "Nonprofit Private Organizations Support Act," which grants the authority to register, cancel, and support nonprofit private organizations to special city mayors, was also passed.

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