Oh Se-hoon: "A research team for 'Mega Seoul' including Gimpo, Guri, and Goyang must be formed"

Discussion on Incorporation with Lee Dong-hwan, Mayor of Goyang Special City

On the 21st, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon stated regarding the discussion of 'Mega Seoul' that "it is necessary to separately establish a 'Seoul Incorporation Integrated Research Team (tentative name)' involving all related local governments such as Gimpo, Guri, Goyang, and Seoul City to comprehensively expand the research."

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon and Goyang Special City Mayor Lee Dong-hwan shake hands at Seoul City Hall on the 21st before discussing the Megacity. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

On the same day, Mayor Oh met with Lee Dong-hwan, Mayor of Goyang Special City, at Seoul City Hall to hear Goyang City's official stance on incorporation into Seoul. This meeting marked the third time Mayor Oh met with local government heads of Gyeonggi Province regarding Seoul incorporation, following meetings with Kim Byung-soo, Mayor of Gimpo, and Baek Kyung-hyun, Mayor of Guri.

During the meeting, Mayor Oh said, "Seoul and Goyang City will also form a joint research team to conduct objective and scientific analysis, and transparently disclose the results to the citizens of both cities." Accordingly, the city plans to conduct an in-depth analysis of the basic status of administration, finance, organization, and issues and obstacles related to incorporation through the operation of 'joint research teams' with individual local governments.

He also mentioned the need to expand the joint research team. Mayor Oh emphasized, "In the future, it is necessary to separately establish a 'Seoul Incorporation Integrated Research Team' involving all related local governments such as Gimpo, Guri, and Goyang, along with the city, to comprehensively expand the research."

Mayor Lee said on the day, "The Mega City discussion should be defined as a 'reorganization of the metropolitan area,' and discussions through a multilateral consultative body including the government are necessary within the broader framework of enhancing national competitiveness," adding, "The number of people commuting and attending school from Goyang to Seoul is about 160,000, which is not only the highest among local governments adjacent to Seoul but also a close neighboring city bordering six autonomous districts of Seoul." Goyang City plans to actively participate in the metropolitan area reorganization and to gather citizens' opinions broadly and seriously for this purpose.

Mayor Oh stated, "The Mega City discussion is the optimal opportunity to solve the highly contentious metropolitan area-wide urban issues," and added, "If we aim for genuine regional balanced development, it is time to seriously expand the Mega City discussion not only to the metropolitan area but also to other regions such as Bu-Ul-Gyeong (Busan, Ulsan, Gyeongnam), Gwangju area, Daegu, Gyeongbuk area, as well as Daejeon, Chungcheong, and Sejong."

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