"Divisions Within the Ruling Party Over 'Mega Seoul'... Backward Step vs. Global Trend"

Hong Jun-pyo "Only Intensifies Concentration in the Capital Area"
Park Soo-young "The World Adopts Megacity Strategies"

The People Power Party has moved beyond incorporating Gimpo City into Seoul and is now pushing for a 'Mega City Seoul,' sparking mixed reactions even within the ruling party.

On one hand, some praise it as a 'global trend' also pursued by countries like Japan, France, and China, while on the other hand, critics argue that it is a policy that goes against balanced regional development. Oh Se-hoon, the mayor of Seoul who holds the key to Mega City Seoul, responded cautiously, stating he would take a 'prudent approach.'

On the 1st, Hong Joon-pyo, mayor of Daegu, posted on his social media, "The president is holding daily meetings, making balanced national development the most important policy in this era of decentralization," and questioned, "Is it right to further enlarge Seoul, which has already become a mega city, thereby intensifying concentration in the metropolitan area?"

Hong Joon-pyo, a presidential primary candidate of the People Power Party, is giving a greeting after the announcement of the vote count results at the 2nd Party Convention held at the Baekbeom Kim Koo Memorial Hall in Yongsan-gu, Seoul on the 5th. Photo by National Assembly Press Photographers Group

He added, "Integrating Busan and Gyeongnam to create Busan Special City, Daegu and Gyeongbuk to create Daegu Special City, and Gwangju and Jeonnam to create Gwangju Special City, thus merging local cities and provinces into mega cities, is desirable for balanced national development in the era of decentralization," but evaluated the Seoul mega city as a "policy that goes against the times."

On the other hand, Park Soo-young, a People Power Party lawmaker and former head of the Yeouido Institute, the ruling party’s think tank, stated on social media, "Countries around the world are adopting mega city strategies to enhance urban competitiveness," citing examples from Japan, China, France, and the UK.

He emphasized, "Japan is creating a super mega region with Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka; China is implementing strategies for ten major mega city clusters such as the Pearl River Delta, Yangtze River Delta, and Jing-Jin-Ji; France consolidated 23 regions into 13 in 2014; the UK is promoting City-Regions policies integrating cities and surrounding rural areas; and Germany has established 11 metropolitan regions," raising his voice.

Park Soo-young, member of the United Future Party./Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

He further stressed, "Mega Seoul has outstanding advantages in innovation and productivity, including ▲concentration of high-level talent ▲IT infrastructure and transportation, communication infrastructure ▲a massive consumer market of over 10 million people ▲and the presence of many global companies’ research and development (R&D) centers or regional headquarters."

Local government heads who hold the key to 'Mega City Seoul' are also divided in opinion. At a briefing on Seoul’s next year budget held at Seoul City Hall that day, Mayor Oh Se-hoon said, "As the economy develops and urban functions become more advanced, the phenomenon of urban agglomeration naturally occurs," and "it is very important to capture this urban agglomeration phenomenon through administrative system reform."

Meanwhile, Kim Dong-yeon, governor of Gyeonggi Province, expressed a heated reaction, saying, "This is utterly absurd," and "after neglecting the economy and people’s livelihoods and dividing the people, now they are even dividing the land," he said.

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