Yongin and Other Special City Mayors' Council: "Special City Authorities Should Be Unified Under a 'Special Act'"

Promotion to Include 12 Special Cases Including 'Sandan Development' in Special Act
Jeong Myeong-geun, Mayor of Hwaseong, Also Attends as Associate Member

Special mayors of cities with populations over one million have united to include special administrative tasks for expanding autonomy in a special law.

The 'Korea Special City Mayors' Council,' a gathering of special mayors including Lee Sang-il, Mayor of Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, held a regular meeting on the 13th at the Yongin Forest Education Center in Mohyeon-eup, Cheoin-gu, Yongin City, emphasizing that "to secure the authority of special cities, special administrative tasks must be specified in the 'Special Act on Support for Special Cities' to establish an institutional foundation."

At the regular general meeting of the Korea Special City Mayors' Council held on the 13th at the Yongin Forest Education Center, Jeong Myeong-geun (from left) Mayor of Hwaseong, Lee Dong-hwan Mayor of Goyang, Lee Sang-il Mayor of Yongin, Lee Jae-jun Mayor of Suwon, and Hong Nam-pyo Mayor of Changwon are taking a commemorative photo.
[Photo by Yongin City]

The meeting was attended by Mayor Lee, as well as Lee Dong-hwan, Mayor of Goyang, Lee Jae-jun, Mayor of Suwon, and Hong Nam-pyo, Mayor of Changwon, Gyeongnam. Jeong Myeong-geun, Mayor of Hwaseong, who is set to launch a special city in January next year, also attended the meeting as an associate member.

The mayors of the five cities agreed to work together to ensure that 12 special administrative tasks, including 'industrial complex development,' which the Autonomy Committee has approved for transfer, are included in the Special Act on Support for Special Cities currently being promoted by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety. They also agreed to unify the special authorities scattered across individual laws such as the Local Decentralization Balanced Development Special Act and the Tourism Promotion Act into the Special Act on Support for Special Cities to have systematic authority.

Mayor Lee Sang-il stated, "Currently, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, the Local Era Committee, and the four special cities have formed a 'Special Act on Special Cities Task Force (TF)' to prepare the bill," adding, "With the 22nd National Assembly convened, we will do our best to ensure the enactment of the special law."

Earlier, the council submitted a 'Proposal for the Enactment of the Special Act on Support for Special Cities,' which includes organizational, financial, and administrative special provisions, to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety at the end of last month. The ministry is expected to hold a second TF meeting at the end of this month to share the draft bill.

At the meeting, the special mayors agreed to jointly strive to build social consensus on securing the authority of special cities by holding an academic seminar on the special city system and the enactment of the special city special law, as well as a policy discussion forum for realizing local decentralization of special cities, at the National Assembly in September.

Jeong Myeong-geun, Mayor of Hwaseong, who attended as an associate member, said, "Hwaseong will fulfill its role and responsibility as a special city and strive for continuous development," adding, "We will do our best to secure practical authority together with the Special City Mayors' Council."

Meanwhile, at the meeting, with the term of Lee Dong-hwan, Mayor of Goyang, as the representative president ending at the end of this month, Lee Jae-jun, Mayor of Suwon, was elected as the next representative president.

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