"Preventing Regional Extinction" Increasing Support for Local Vitality Towns

Government Announces 'Population Decline Area Package Support'
Simplified Project Application Process...Expansion of Linked Projects

Choi Sang-mok, Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs and Minister of Economy and Finance, is attending the Economic Ministers' Meeting held at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno, Seoul on the 21st, lost in thought. Photo by Jo Yong-jun jun21@

The government will simplify the application process for the 'Regional Vitality Town' project, introduced to respond to the risk of local extinction, and expand related projects.

On the 21st, the government announced the 'Customized Package Support for Population Declining Areas' plan at the Economic Ministers' Meeting. The Regional Vitality Town project is a joint initiative by eight government ministries to create livable rural villages by providing integrated support for housing, living infrastructure, and services to retirees and young people returning to farming or rural areas.

The government will first identify additional high-demand inter-ministerial projects to expand support for Regional Vitality Towns. Four linked projects will be added: region-specific rental-type smart farms (Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs), support projects for socially vulnerable areas (Ministry of Health and Welfare), daily care services (Ministry of Health and Welfare), and youth inflow and retention support (Ministry of the Interior and Safety).

Choi Sang-mok, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, explained, "To overcome the risk of population extinction, local governments need to have quality housing, jobs, and living infrastructure evenly established. If local governments prepare population extinction response plans reflecting field demands, we will support them in a package form by linking available means from each ministry."

Additionally, an integrated application system will be introduced to simplify the application process. When local governments propose the location and composition of Regional Vitality Towns, government ministries will reduce the support procedures for linked projects through integrated applications. The government aims to select 10 Regional Vitality Towns annually starting next year through this integrated application process.

A post-management system will also be established to ensure smooth project implementation. Under the leadership of the Local Era Committee, project consulting and coordination functions will be strengthened to activate participation by capable private entities.

The collaborating ministries for the city/county/district affiliated industry development project will be expanded from the existing Ministry of the Interior and Safety to include the Ministry of Justice (visa system) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (rural spatial policy).

If local governments develop a 'Local Extinction Response Regional Innovation Project' by utilizing the city/county/district affiliated industry development project and policies of collaborating ministries, the support targets will be determined through a joint ministry application and selection process. Subsequently, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and related ministries will provide focused support to the selected projects (companies).

Starting next month, a 'Renovation Project' (tentative name) will also be promoted to revitalize the local economy. The project aims to resolve local extinction issues by spreading entrepreneurship and job creation based on local content. When private entities such as commercial district planners devise development strategies, local governments will support them by providing infrastructure, local government funding, and enacting ordinances.

Currently, existing commercial districts like traditional markets are the main policy targets and receive uniform support, which causes newly growing alleyway commercial districts in the region to be excluded from policy support.

Government ministries will provide projects that can be linked with the Renovation Project in a menu format and conduct integrated applications. Confirmed linked projects will be supported as a cross-ministerial package. The government plans to prepare application guidelines and manuals for the Renovation Project this year and select project targets between April and May next year.

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