"Urging the Relocation of Secondary Public Institutions to Population-Declining Areas" ... Mayors of Andong, Sangju, and Jecheon Meet with Woo Dong-gi

On the 5th, Kwon Ki-chang, Mayor of Andong City, met with Woo Dong-gi, Chairman of the National Balanced Development Committee, and requested that the second phase of public institution relocation to local areas include non-innovative and population-decreasing regions.

The mayors of Sangju and Jecheon also attended the meeting, delivering a joint statement urging the relocation of public institutions to population-decreasing areas, which was announced in March by 13 local governments including Andong City, and collectively called for changes in the relocation criteria.

(Photo from left) Kang Young-seok, Mayor of Sangju, Gyeongbuk; Kim Chang-gyu, Mayor of Jecheon, Chungbuk; Woo Dong-gi, Chairman of the National Balanced Development Committee; Kwon Ki-chang, Mayor of Andong, are posing for a commemorative photo.

Mayor Kwon Ki-chang of Andong said, “I look forward to the true era of local governance beginning with the launch of the Local Era Committee on the 10th,” and urged, “Please broadly review the criteria for relocating public institutions so that non-innovative small and medium-sized cities can also enjoy equal opportunities for regional balanced development.”

Mayor Kwon also emphasized that the public institution relocation policy should be pursued in a way that considers regional characteristics and industries, enabling synergy between public institutions and the relocation areas, and expressed Andong City’s hope to relocate public institutions related to its specialized industries such as the bio-industry, cultural tourism, and lifelong education.

On the 29th of last month, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport officially announced a delay in the second phase of public institution relocation plans, citing “overheated competition among local governments for attraction.” Meanwhile, Andong City plans to proactively respond to the government’s balanced development policy by reorganizing its administration and establishing a Local Era Policy Office.

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