Yoon "A True Local Era... Boldly Decentralizing Central Authority" (Update)

Presiding over the Central-Local Cooperation Meeting in Jeonbuk... "No Separation Between Central and Local Governments on Livelihood Issues"

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] President Yoon Seok-yeol emphasized on the 10th, "The government must boldly transfer central authority to open a true era of local governance." The 'Local Era Reform' for balanced regional development is a core national agenda of the Yoon administration and was recently selected as one of the 20 key focus tasks. The government plans to start with measures to revive the regional economy and increase the autonomy of local governments to fully open the local era.

On the morning of the same day, President Yoon held the '3rd Central-Local Cooperation Meeting' at Jeonbuk Provincial Office in Jeonju, Jeollabuk-do, stating, "Central and local governments must engage in intense deliberation and communication over people's livelihoods," and added, "We will support regions to discover and nurture their own growth engines."

President Yoon Suk-yeol is speaking at the 3rd Central-Local Cooperation Meeting held at Jeonbuk Provincial Office in Jeonju, Jeonbuk on the 10th.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

The Central-Local Cooperation Meeting is a de facto 'second Cabinet meeting' where the highest decision-makers of central and local governments gather to deliberate policies for the development of local autonomy and balanced regional development. This was the second time President Yoon personally presided over the meeting. At the first meeting in October last year, he emphasized that "the core of the local system is the creation of quality local jobs," regularized the meeting to be held quarterly, and promised to develop it into a major platform for national governance through regional rotation hosting.

Accordingly, this meeting addressed detailed plans different from the first meeting, including ▲ a report on the 'Plan for Transferring Central Authority to Local Governments' ▲ approval of the 'Plan to Amend the Enforcement Decree of the Central-Local Cooperation Meeting Act' and the 'Improvement Plan for the Local Extinction Response Fund' ▲ and a report on the 'Plan to Expand Local Government Autonomy in Organizational Rights.'

President Yoon stated, "I have emphasized that the core of the local era lies in education and industry, which are all about people's livelihoods and their means of living," and added, "From now on, whenever I visit regions, I plan to visit industrial sites and places related to people's livelihoods together." He continued, "I will work together with the provincial governors. There is no division between central and local governments when it comes to people's livelihoods," and said, "I hope today's meeting will be a place for intense deliberation and communication focused on improving the people's welfare."

Meanwhile, the government unveiled the 'Plan for Transferring Central Authority to Local Governments,' which includes measures starting with 'regional economy,' such as expanding the authority to lift development restrictions (Greenbelt) in non-capital areas and expanding business authority over free trade zones.

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