Suwon City Council Holds Policy Forum on the Roles and Challenges of Special City Councils

On the afternoon of the day, about 100 people including Lee Jae-jun, Mayor of Suwon, Kim Ki-jung, Chairperson of Suwon City Council, and citizens attended the forum held in the medium conference room of Suwon City Hall.

On the 7th, the Suwon City Council in Gyeonggi Province held a policy forum to examine the roles and challenges of special city councils.

The Suwon City Council in Gyeonggi held a policy forum on the 7th to examine the roles and tasks of special city councils.

About 100 people including Lee Jae-jun, Mayor of Suwon, Kim Ki-jung, Chairperson of Suwon City Council, and citizens attended the forum held in the medium conference room of Suwon City Hall on the afternoon of the day.

The forum was chaired by Kang Young-woo, Chairperson of the City Council Operations Committee, and keynote speech was delivered by Geum Chang-ho, Senior Research Fellow at the Korea Institute of Local Administration. Discussants included Hong Jong-cheol, Vice Chairperson of the City Council Planning and Economy Committee, Park No-su, Professor in charge of the Legislative Policy Advanced Course at the University of Seoul, Choi Si-bok, Director of the Election and Local Autonomy Regulations Division at the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, Park Hyun-soo, Member of the City Council Urban Environment Committee, and Kim Gyo-min, CEO of K-Real Estate News.

In his keynote speech, Senior Research Fellow Geum emphasized, "Suwon City has secured special administrative, organizational, and financial privileges as a special city," adding, "Accordingly, the Suwon City Council, as a special city council, must respond to the increased demand for legal authorities it already holds, such as autonomous legislative power, administrative oversight, and financial approval rights."

He continued, "The demand to check the city executive's administrative operations will also increase, and the city council will take on the role of explaining the legal entity of the special city to residents and reviewing institutional improvements."

As tasks for the Suwon City Council, he pointed out the need for institutional improvements of the special city, including the fact that it has not secured legal status and has only obtained some authorities, and suggested the council's roles in public opinion formation, alternative discovery, external support, and external cooperation to address these issues.

The discussants debated on establishing an organization and system for the special city council appropriate to its population and scale, such as independence of personnel authority, and building institutional support measures to secure the expertise of council members.

Lee Jae-jun, Mayor of Suwon, emphasized cooperation, saying, "Local councils are symbols of grassroots democracy and strong partners for genuine decentralization," and "To create a true special city, Suwon City and the city council must join forces to generate synergy."

Kim Ki-jung, Chairperson of Suwon City Council, stated, "Suwon City has been designated as a special city and received various delegated authorities, but the city council has only been given the title of a special city council, while its authority over organization and budget formation remains limited, resulting in a lack of autonomy," and added, "Through this policy forum, the city council should review future tasks and secure practical authority."

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