Busan Mayor Park Hyung-jun, "Bold Decentralization of Central Authority and Finance, the Path to Local Survival"

President-led, Top Decision-Making Body '3rd Central-Local Cooperation Meeting' Held

On the 10th at Jeonbuk Provincial Office, Mayor Park Hyung-jun and Governors, Central Government Ministers Attended

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Dongguk Lee] Park Hyung-jun, Mayor of Busan, attended the ‘3rd Central-Local Cooperation Meeting’ held at Jeonbuk Provincial Government on the morning of the 10th and expressed local issues.

The ‘Central-Local Cooperation Meeting’ was launched in January last year to institutionalize communication and cooperation between the central and local governments and to strengthen the role of local governments as partners in national governance.

President Yoon Suk-yeol and attendees are saluting the national flag at the '3rd Central-Local Cooperation Meeting' held at Jeonbuk Provincial Office on the 10th.
[Photo by Presidential Office Press Photographers]

At the meeting, Mayor Park emphasized that a revolutionary transfer of authority and finances from the central government is absolutely necessary for local survival, and that extraordinary measures from the central government are required for this.

He pointed out that local governments are missing the golden time for regional development due to numerous procedures and consultations with the central government required to promote key projects, and raised his voice that under the current structure where most authority and finances are monopolized by the central government, local survival can no longer be guaranteed.

In particular, he urged for speeding up the prompt implementation of feasible parts of the ‘comprehensive transfer of special local administrative agencies to local governments’ and the ‘second relocation of public institutions to local areas,’ which are delayed due to disagreements with central ministries.

At the meeting, not only the transfer of central authority to local governments strongly proposed by Mayor Park Hyung-jun of Busan but also measures to expand local governments’ autonomous organizational rights and rationalize local education finances were discussed, raising expectations that local voices will be reflected in the future.

Mayor Park said, “We welcome the government’s bold willingness to transfer authority. In particular, the contents of authority transfer in the education sector announced by the government today, such as delegating financial support authority for local universities to local governments and transferring approval and supervision authority for foreign university establishment to provincial governors, are issues that Busan has continuously requested from the Yoon Seok-yeol administration and most have been accepted,” adding, “We hope the Yoon Seok-yeol administration’s era of local governance will be successfully realized through more bold and practical transfers and support for finances and personnel.”

He emphasized, “Busan City will also closely cooperate with the government to promptly prepare priority tasks for local transfer and create a leading model for the era of local governance.”

On the same day, at the ‘52nd Temporary General Assembly of the Korea Association of Mayors and Governors’ held prior to the Central-Local Cooperation Meeting, Mayor Park Hyung-jun of Busan and Jang Je-guk, President of Dongseo University, were appointed as co-chairmen of the ‘2030 Busan World Expo Bid Support Special Committee.’

At the event, Mayor Park said, “We ask for the active interest and support of all citizens in preparation for the on-site inspection of the 2030 Busan World Expo by the International Bureau of Expositions, scheduled for five days from April 3 to 7 this year,” and added, “Until the final decision on the host country is made in November this year, we hope all of Korea will unite as ‘One Team Korea’ and mobilize all capabilities.”

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