Jeju Island Makes All-Out Effort for Passage of 'Jeju Special Act Amendment' Within the Year... Strengthening Negotiations in the National Assembly

Legislation Subcommittee 'Continues Review'... Jeju-do Explains Necessity of Amendments and Strives to Build Consensus

The Jeju Special Self-Governing Province plans to strengthen its central government negotiations by closely coordinating with the National Assembly and the Ministry of the Interior and Safety to revise the "Special Act on the Establishment of Jeju Special Self-Governing Province and the Creation of an International Free City (Jeju Special Act)" within this year.

On the 21st, the Legislation and Judiciary Committee (LJ Committee) of the National Assembly held the 2nd Subcommittee on Bill Examination during the 410th regular session and decided to continue reviewing the amendment to the Jeju Special Act, which includes the introduction of a Jeju-type basic local government and the implementation of a resident referendum for this purpose.

The main point of the amendment is to allow the governor of Jeju Province to request the Minister of the Interior and Safety to conduct a resident referendum with the consent of the provincial council when establishing a city or county within Jeju Province.

The amendment passed the standing committee, the Administrative Safety Committee, in May, went through the full LJ Committee meeting in July, and is currently pending in the 2nd Subcommittee of the LJ Committee.

During the agenda review at the LJ Committee’s 2nd Subcommittee on the 21st, lawmakers from both ruling and opposition parties expressed agreement on the necessity of the amendment. However, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety reportedly suggested that since resident referendums are already possible under current laws, a more cautious review is needed.

Additionally, the 2nd Subcommittee reportedly indicated that if Jeju Province and the Ministry of the Interior and Safety engage in closer consultations, the review would continue at the next meeting.

In response, Jeju Province plans to focus administrative efforts to ensure that the pending bill proceeds to the National Assembly plenary session by sufficiently gathering opinions and building consensus to reflect residents’ direct decision-making rights for the introduction of the Jeju-type administrative system.

Unlike Jeju Province, which cannot introduce basic local governments, Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province, launched in June, and Jeonbuk Special Self-Governing Province, set to launch in January next year, have grounds to establish cities or counties through the amendment of Article 3 of the Local Autonomy Act, maintaining city, county, and district basic local governments. Jeju plans to continuously emphasize the necessity of the amendment and request cooperation accordingly.

Meanwhile, regarding this matter, Oh Young-hoon, Governor of Jeju Province, stated at a policy sharing tea time on the 20th, “Since this issue was entrusted to us by residents as a local election pledge, the National Assembly and government must respect it, and the Jeju provincial government will proceed faithfully.”

Jeju = Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Park Chang-won, reporter baekok@asiae.co.kr

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