Disbanding the Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam Special Union: "Authoritarianism" vs. "Shortcut to Countering the Capital Region"

The 400th Regular Session of the Gyeongnam Provincial Council

The 400th regular session was held at the Gyeongnam Provincial Council.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Seryeong] On the 23rd, during the 400th regular session of the Gyeongnam Provincial Council's provincial administration questions, a heated debate broke out between Gyeongnam Province and Democratic Party lawmakers over the abolition of the Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam (Bu-Ul-Gyeong) Special Union.

Democratic Party member Yoo Hyung-jun criticized the declaration to suspend the Bu-Ul-Gyeong Special Union as "unilateral," while Governor Park Wan-su countered that administrative integration is "the shortcut to responding to the Seoul metropolitan area."

Yoo said, "The Gyeongnam Research Institute, which upheld the necessity of the Bu-Ul-Gyeong Special Union until before August this year, concluded that there was no practical benefit based solely on a research project analyzing the effectiveness of the Bu-Ul-Gyeong Special Union for just over two months," arguing that it caused policy confusion among residents and a loss of administrative capacity.

He continued, "The research report from the institute lacks a concrete cost-benefit or practical effectiveness analysis regarding the promotion of the Bu-Ul-Gyeong Special Union," criticizing it as "merely a list of pros and cons about the special union's promotion."

He also raised suspicions that the Gyeongnam Research Institute had political intentions.

Yoo sharply stated, "The unilateral suspension declaration of the special union, which was born as the country's first special local government, is a product of authoritarian administration without resident participation and respect for the council."

He added, "It is not that we did not know the shortcut called administrative integration and tried to take the long way around through the special union, but rather that the special union was intended as a foundational process toward the long-term task of administrative integration."

He also urged for the collection of residents' opinions and public discussion regarding the ultra-wide economic alliance among the three local governments and the promotion of Bu-Gyeong administrative integration.

In response, Governor Park rebutted, "What was ultimately pursued during the 7th local government term was administrative integration, and the promotion of the special union can also be seen as a process toward administrative integration."

He reiterated, "Skipping the special union stage and going straight to administrative integration, the most complete form of ultra-wide cooperation, is more feasible."

Governor Park expressed his will to promote administrative integration, saying, "Bu-Ul-Gyeong aims to take the lead as an integrated axis to respond to the Seoul metropolitan area through administrative integration," and "advocating for the special union is taking a detour despite the existence of a shortcut."

Before the regular session, Governor Park said, "The Bu-Ul-Gyeong Special Union is one of the methods for joint task handling and can only take on tasks without special authority or finances," adding, "A special union that gathers tasks previously handled by existing cities and provinces, hires public officials, builds government offices, forms a council, and incurs a budget is not appropriate."

He emphasized, "Until now, Bu-Ul-Gyeong has been in a zero-sum game history of taking from and losing to each other, but now, through administrative integration, we must write a new history of a plus game where we develop together," and "not just growing in size, but receiving quasi-governmental authority to open a new era of local decentralization and lead balanced national development."

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