Administrative Integration of Gyeongnam and Busan, Restarting from Public Deliberation

Results of City and Province Residents' Opinion Poll Show Low Awareness and High Opposition

Awareness of the administrative integration between Gyeongnam and Busan is low among city and provincial residents, and opposition is high.

According to Gyeongnam Province on the 12th, the two local governments conducted a public opinion survey on the promotion of administrative integration from May 29 to June 1 and from June 5 to 8 targeting city and provincial residents.

A total of 4,000 men and women aged 18 and over were surveyed, with 2,000 opinions each from Gyeongnam residents and Busan citizens.

The telephone interview survey was conducted with 70% mobile phones and 30% landlines, with a response rate of 14.7%, a sampling error of 95%, and a confidence level of ±1.5%P.

Park Wan-su, Governor of Gyeongnam Province, is speaking about the public opinion survey results on the administrative integration of Gyeongnam and Busan.
[Photo by Gyeongnam Provincial Government]

On the same day, Gyeongnam Province and Busan City announced the survey results through a joint briefing on the Busan-Gyeongnam administrative integration.

According to the results, awareness and support for administrative integration among city and provincial residents were found to be below the majority.

Public opinion survey results in Busan and Gyeongnam regarding awareness of discussions on administrative integration.
[Image provided by Gyeongnam Provincial Government]

Regarding awareness of the administrative integration discussion, 69.4% responded that they had "never heard of it," while 30.6% said they were aware of it.

Support for administrative integration was 35.6%, opposition was 45.6%, and 18.8% said they did not know.

The main reason for support was that it would enable national balanced development in response to concentration in the metropolitan area, accounting for 56.4%, while the main reason for opposition was that the necessity or justification for integration was insufficient, accounting for 50.5%.

Response results on the pros and cons of administrative integration.
[Image provided by Gyeongnam Provincial Government]

The two local governments accepted the high opposition to administrative integration but also analyzed that the very low awareness limited the objective confirmation of opinions.

Reflecting on the lack of guidance and publicity necessary for residents to understand and judge the pros and cons of the administrative integration discussion, they plan to supplement these efforts to spread awareness among city and provincial residents.

In the future, an administrative integration promotion committee involving both public and private sectors will be formed to continuously promote public discussion, and when conditions mature, another public opinion survey will be conducted to reconfirm the opinions of city and provincial residents.

They will continue to discover cooperative projects related to the quality of life of city and provincial residents, including the previously collaborated 2030 Busan World Expo bid, metropolitan infrastructure construction, as well as culture, tourism, health, and welfare.

To enhance execution, a cooperation channel involving senior officials from Gyeongnam and Busan will be newly established for these cooperative projects.

They will also diversify cooperative projects within the ultra-wide economic alliance of Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongnam (Bu-Ul-Gyeong) to achieve tangible results.

Governor Park Wan-su said, “We have agreed on the necessity for Bu-Ul-Gyeong to become one family and form a bipolar system with the metropolitan area, and have worked together with Busan City for nearly a year.”

He added, “The fundamental premise of administrative integration is the will of the 7 million residents of the two local governments, and although we conducted two rounds of public opinion surveys to promote integration according to that will, there were insufficient aspects. We will continue to respect the will of city and provincial residents and strive for joint development between the two local governments.”

Mayor Park Hyung-joon said, “Cooperation and solidarity between local governments are unavoidable tasks to overcome the regional extinction crisis, and the most important driving force for administrative integration remains the will of city and provincial residents. We will carefully promote administrative integration with a focus on sufficient discussion, listening to residents’ opinions, and gathering local public opinion.”

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