Lee Cheol-woo, Governor of Gyeongbuk, Urges Urgent Foreign Workforce Attraction to Prevent Local Extinction... Proposes 'Gwangyeok Visa'

Revealed at Seminar Held in National Assembly

"Direct Recruitment of Needed Personnel in Local Areas"

A seminar titled "The Crisis of Local Extinction, Practical Directions and Alternatives" was held on the 22nd at the Central Hall of the National Assembly Secretariat.

Attending the seminar were Park Sang-cheol, Director of the National Assembly Legislative Research Office, ministers and vice ministers from central government agencies, as well as senior officials and related experts including Lee Cheol-woo, Governor of Gyeongbuk, Lim Jong-sik, Superintendent of Gyeongbuk Office of Education, Kim Young-rok, Governor of Jeonnam, and Kim Dae-jung, Superintendent of Jeonnam Office of Education.

Lee Cheol-woo, Governor of Gyeongbuk Province, is delivering the keynote speech at a seminar titled "The Crisis of Local Extinction: Practical Directions and Alternatives" held at the National Assembly in Seoul.

This National Assembly seminar was co-hosted by the National Assembly Legislative Research Office and Gyeongbuk, Jeonnam, Gyeongbuk Office of Education, and Jeonnam Office of Education, which signed a business agreement to overcome local extinction. The seminar focused on topics such as the introduction of a regional visa system for depopulated areas and strengthening the attraction of international students.

In his opening remarks, Park Sang-cheol, Director of the National Assembly Legislative Research Office, said, "To respond to the population crisis and the risk of local extinction, let us actively derive policy and legislative tasks suited to local circumstances and seek solutions to regional difficulties together with the National Assembly and the government."

In the keynote speech, Lee Cheol-woo, Governor of Gyeongbuk, under the theme "Korea Again with the Power of the Region," emphasized the importance of starting the era of local autonomy by stating, "Through the historical example of Jingbirok, we must have the awareness that the region is the owner and overcome the crisis with the power of the region."

Governor Lee Cheol-woo said, "To this end, let us receive the transfer of many authorities from central government agencies to local governments and create conditions for local areas to prosper," adding, "Local areas are first-class nations and the main agents to create a new Korea. Let us move toward an era where local areas are good places to live anywhere in Korea."

As a concrete alternative to establish a definite era of local autonomy, Governor Lee proposed the regional visa system. He emphasized that foreigner policy should shift from a first-generation, single-worker model to a second-generation nuclear family settlement model, and that regions should proactively select and attract the foreign workforce and talented individuals they need.

Following this, Lee Bok-woo, Director of the Political and Administrative Research Office at the National Assembly Legislative Research Office, presented proposals titled "Introduction of Regional Visas in Depopulated Areas" and "Strengthening the Attraction of International Students to Vocational High Schools" under the theme of National Assembly response tasks to overcome the local extinction crisis.

Centered on the mentioned response tasks, a designated discussion session was chaired by Professor Choi Cheol-young of Daegu University, who led a lively policy debate with officials from Gyeongbuk, Jeonnam, Gyeongbuk Office of Education, and Jeonnam Office of Education.

Park Sung-soo, Director of the Local Era Policy Bureau of Gyeongbuk Province, who attended the discussion, argued for the need to expand local participation in visa matters and advocated for the introduction of the regional visa system.

He stated that currently, South Korea faces a triple crisis: overpopulation in the metropolitan area, labor shortages in enterprises and rural areas outside the metropolitan area, and the decline of universities due to decreasing student numbers, leading to large corporations leaving, rural paralysis, and existential threats to universities.

He also pointed out that more than half of the domestic population resides in the metropolitan area, and the polarization of population between metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas continues. Furthermore, 60% of foreign residents are concentrated in metropolitan areas such as Seoul, Gyeonggi, and Incheon, making the decentralization of labor to local areas urgent. He called for a major shift from central metropolitan-focused foreigner policies to local government-led policies.

To this end, he emphasized the necessity of establishing visa requirements through consultations between central and local governments to attract foreign talent needed by regions via the regional visa system, and the need to create differentiated visas for each metropolitan local government.

The regional visa system began with a proposal to the government by the Gyeongsangbuk-do Preparatory Committee, which leads the local era, to resolve labor shortages in the regional labor market. Through National Assembly forums for the introduction of regional visas, a consensus for legal revision was formed, and a bill for the introduction of regional visas was submitted in December 2022.

Governor Lee Cheol-woo of Gyeongbuk stated that they will continue to promote research on effective measures for the regional visa system and form public opinion on the necessity of introducing regional visas with the National Assembly, central government agencies, and local civil society.

Furthermore, Gyeongbuk Province plans to cooperate with the National Assembly and government to create Korea again with the power of the region, seek policy alternatives to advance toward a definite era of local autonomy, and actively work to legislate the voices of local areas.

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