Jo Kyung-tae "If Mega City Succeeds, Half of the 17 Metropolitan Mayors Will Be Reduced"

Appointed as Special Chairman of the People Power Party New City Project
Reducing over 3,000 Basic Council Members in Cities, Counties, and Districts
"Investment Must Be Made in Essential Welfare, Transportation, and Housing Infrastructure"

"If integration by region proceeds in the form of a megacity, the current 17 metropolitan governments will be drastically reduced by more than half."

Jo Kyung-tae, the Special Committee Chair of the People Power Party’s New City Project, recently introduced this in an interview with Asia Economy regarding the ruling party’s megacity plan centered on the three axes of Seoul, Busan, and Gwangju, including the incorporation of Gimpo City in Gyeonggi Province into Seoul.

Chairman Jo emphasized, "(If administration is integrated around the megacity) the number of basic council members in cities, counties, and districts, which currently reaches 3,000, must also be reduced," adding, "If administrative waste is reduced, that budget can be used for essential welfare, transportation, and housing infrastructure."

Rep. Cho Kyung-tae of the People Power Party. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

The People Power Party launched an official special committee on the 7th to carry out the New City Project, expanding the 'three-axis megacity' centered on Seoul, Busan, and Gwangju, and further to a 'super-regional megacity' connecting Daejeon and Daegu. The original plan to incorporate Gimpo City into Seoul was broadened into a megacity concept and elevated to a special committee. Chairman Jo, who leads the committee, is a senior party lawmaker who served five consecutive terms representing Saha District in Busan and majored in civil engineering at Pusan National University.

Chairman Jo diagnosed, "In the case of Busan, the population is currently only about 3.3 million. The city needs to reach about 5 million to become more vibrant," adding, "If it continues to be divided into smaller local cities, there is a greater possibility over time that they will be absorbed into the metropolitan area." Although the era of local autonomy began 30 years ago with the first nationwide simultaneous local elections in 1995, where residents directly elected metropolitan and basic councils and heads, the current crisis of local extinction calls for a 'major administrative transformation.'

He said, "The current administrative system still uses the eup, myeon, dong, and ri units from the Japanese colonial era when people traveled on horseback," and added, "The megacity should be an opportunity to completely reform this." He emphasized that this should lay the foundation for development through metropolitan integration by grouping the currently divided 17 metropolitan local governments into administrative regions such as Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam, Gwangju-Jeonbuk-Jeonnam, Daejeon-Chungbuk-Chungnam-Sejong, and Daegu-Gyeongbuk, while Seoul leaps forward as the world’s fifth-largest international city.

Chairman Jo explained, "If some parts of Gyeonggi Province close to Seoul, such as Gimpo, are incorporated into the same administrative district, it becomes easier to establish related policies like housing and transportation because Seoul City can discuss urban development plans together." He further elaborated, "There was tremendous opposition when the Gyeongbu Expressway was constructed, but without the expressway, South Korea’s economy could not have developed this much," adding, "This project is also an inevitable choice for moving toward a future-oriented nation."

Chairman Jo also criticized Gyeonggi Province Governor Kim Dong-yeon’s plan to divide Gyeonggi Province into southern and northern provinces, saying, "It is rather a regressive idea." He pointed out, "If Gyeonggi Province is divided, provincial offices of the same scale must be established, and civil servants are needed. This will ultimately require enormous budgets," adding, "the administrative waste of taxpayers’ money is indescribable, and when you add up the infrastructure needed for civil servants and various public institutions to operate the provinces, it becomes inefficient."

For this reason, Chairman Jo argues that the number of basic council members should be drastically reduced in proportion to the reduced number of metropolitan governments through the megacity. He said, "There are many overlapping administrative functions even now," and added, "If the districts of basic council members are unified and only metropolitan council members are elected, the budget can be greatly saved." In last year’s local elections, 226 basic local government heads, 872 metropolitan council members, and 2,988 basic council members (including proportional representatives) were elected. According to a 2021 public opinion survey conducted by the Korea Local Government Research Institute, only 13% of respondents said they were 'satisfied' with the legislative activities of local council members, while 38.5% said they were 'dissatisfied.' Chairman Jo said, "With smart automation, many civil servants are no longer needed on site," adding, "If county offices and others are also reduced and personnel are deployed only where necessary, and the administrative system is boldly reformed, astronomical budgets can be saved and used for future generations."

The special committee plans to visit Guri City, which requested incorporation into Seoul, on the 15th and will soon propose a special law for the megacity.

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