Mokpo City Focuses Integrated Administrative Efforts of Mokpo and Sinan to Overcome Regional Extinction Crisis

Striving to Develop Rational Measures Through Gathering Diverse Stakeholder Opinions

Recognizing the Need for Integration of Population Decline and Regional Disappearance, a Difficult but Necessary Path to Follow

Mokpo City is focusing its administrative efforts on integration with Sinan, proposed as a development strategy for the southwestern region amid the ongoing risk of regional extinction in the new year.

According to the city on the 3rd, throughout the past year, exchanges between townships and neighborhoods, rural labor assistance, and purchases of Sinan agricultural products took place through private organizations. Social groups from both regions, including senior citizens' associations, neighborhood leaders' councils, and veterans' associations, held regular meetings to foster friendship and mutual cooperation, maintaining a continuous atmosphere of integration throughout the year.

The Mokpo-Sinan Integration Promotion Committee (hereafter the Committee) emphasized the necessity of integration, stating, “The outdated practices where some local political and economic figures, indifferent to regional extinction or the future of youth, only focus on maintaining their vested interests and obstruct integration must now disappear.”

They also expressed, “Although the process toward integration is difficult and slow, it is a task our generation must accomplish to revive regional competitiveness and achieve shared prosperity,” adding, “We will quietly fulfill our duties.”

The Mokpo-Shinan Integration Promotion Committee held its inaugural ceremony last March.
[Photo by Mokpo City]

In line with this, the city plans to promptly establish a practical cooperation body with Sinan County and, through discussions within this body, is determined to produce concrete results for Mokpo-Sinan integration by discovering mutual cooperation projects.

Additionally, throughout this year, the city will closely consult with Sinan County to actively collect diverse opinions from stakeholders such as neighborhood leaders, executives of various social organizations, small business owners, and public officials from both regions. This is to proactively prevent the indiscriminate spread of anxiety or false information regarding integration.

Last year, Mokpo City completed sisterhood agreements between its 23 neighborhoods and Sinan County’s 14 townships and villages. Over the past year, with 201 events and participation of over 4,000 people, activities such as rural labor assistance, beauty service volunteering, festival visits, marine cleanup activities, and kimchi sharing were led to foster an atmosphere of integration.

Moreover, the Mokpo-Sinan Integration Promotion Committee expanded its membership to 78 representatives from social organizations and various sectors with ties to Sinan, and carried out diverse activities for Mokpo-Sinan integration.

On December 16 last year, the Committee held the launch ceremony of the Youth Subcommittee at the Shangri-La Beach Hotel in Mokpo, where 20 young people aged 20 to 40 from the Mokpo area committed to actively promoting integration between Mokpo and Sinan for the future of the southwestern Jeollanam-do region.

Throughout the year, key projects included operating the 2nd term Eoul Academy, workshops to strengthen the promotional committee’s capabilities, island outreach volunteer services (such as beauty services), water service for Sinan County visitors during Chuseok, opening a mutual cooperation market for Sinan’s excellent agricultural and marine products at the Mokpo Port Festival, and producing and broadcasting integration promotional TV advertisements.

Mokpo city officials are also participating in creating an atmosphere for Mokpo-Sinan integration. In September last year, a campaign to purchase Sinan County’s excellent agricultural and marine products for Chuseok was conducted among city officials, with about 1,200 officials participating and purchasing 14.22 million KRW worth of products such as figs, pears, and rockfish produced by Sinan’s outstanding farms and fisheries, leading by example in practicing integration.

The city is actively working to discover mutual cooperation projects that allow residents of both regions to experience effects comparable to integration in advance.

In cooperation with Sinan County, projects closely related to residents’ daily lives such as transportation, welfare, and culture are being prioritized, with both local governments identifying projects feasible at a metropolitan level.

A joint practical body will be formed to discuss and finalize the discovered projects regarding their impact on residents, satisfaction, and implementation plans.

The discovered projects include expanding convenience crematoriums for island residents (Phase 1), joint development of Mokpo-Sinan tourism products, prioritizing purchase of Sinan agricultural products, and reducing usage fees for public sports facilities in Mokpo and Sinan.

In the interim report of the “Mokpo-Sinan Integration Effect Analysis Joint Research” held in November last year, it was found that the administrative benefits of integration amount to 458.5 billion KRW, while costs are 6.3 billion KRW, showing that benefits far outweigh costs. The economic ripple effect was projected at 1.2 trillion KRW, and the number of tourists is expected to increase to 22 million by 2027.

Earlier this year, a residents’ briefing session was held for Sinan County residents, emphasizing integration incentives (6% of local allocation tax for 10 years) and economies of scale, aiming to shift perceptions toward integration and reach an “integration agreement.”

To respond to public skepticism about the effectiveness of integration, the city is actively promoting through various banners, informational leaflets, and public television advertisements.

The city stressed that the current situation in Mokpo and Sinan is one of regional extinction due to low birth rates and aging populations. It highlighted that integration is essential to counter regional extinction, and that integration would enhance the financial competitiveness of the integrated local government, expand opportunities to attract national projects, increase the value of the city brand, and elevate its status as the central city of the southwestern region.

At the same time, the city is addressing concerns about integration, such as increased taxes in the integrated city, reductions in existing subsidies and benefits, and potential policy neglect of Sinan County, by providing detailed explanations to dispel worries.

Mayor Park Hong-ryul of Mokpo stated, “Facing the era of regional extinction, we will build consensus on Mokpo-Sinan integration centered on the private sector, achieve tourism integration, economic integration, and ultimately administrative integration, dedicating sincerity and effort so that both regions can prosper together,” expressing his aspirations for this year.

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