Busan-Gyeongnam Administrative Integration 3rd Discussion Meeting Postponed

Difficult to Identify Pros and Cons Through Debate, Postponed Temporarily

The 3rd Busan-Gyeongnam Administrative Integration Forum, which was scheduled to be held on the 24th at the Jinju Knowledge Industry Center in Gyeongnam, has been tentatively postponed.

On the 19th, Gyeongnam Province announced that after the 1st and 2nd forums, it was difficult to understand the pros and cons of integration and how the lives of ordinary residents would change through administrative integration by only having debates for and against integration without presenting an integration model, and thus made this decision.

They also stated that they took seriously external criticisms that the interest of city and provincial residents in administrative integration is declining.

Gyeongnam Provincial Government Office.
Photo by Lee Seryeong

The province plans to consult with Busan City as soon as possible to discuss the preparation of an administrative integration model, forums, public opinion surveys, and the overall approach and schedule for promoting administrative integration.

Information related to administrative integration, which has been provided since April 27, will continue to be available through the Gyeongsangnam-do official website.

Any resident can check basic information such as the background, pros and cons, and expected effects of the Busan-Gyeongnam administrative integration, as well as videos of previously held integration forums, presentation materials, and press releases through the provincial website.

Park Wan-su, Governor of Gyeongnam Province, is answering reporters' questions at a press conference.
[Photo by Lee Se-ryeong]

At a press briefing the previous day, Governor Park Wan-su said, “The forum should not ask city and provincial residents to support or oppose integration, but rather accurately present the pros and cons of integrating or maintaining the current status quo.”

He also said, “We intended to conduct a public opinion survey in the first half of this year to accurately understand the will of the residents and quickly decide whether to proceed, so as to avoid related conflicts or administrative waste. However, since Busan is fully focused on attracting the Expo and there is insufficient promotion of the pros and cons of integration to residents, we are considering postponing it to the second half of the year.”

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