"‘TK Administrative Integration Faces Challenges but Must Go Through Referendum’... Joint Seminar by Democratic Party Daegu City and Gyeongbuk Provincial Branches"

The Democratic Party of Korea's Gyeongbuk Provincial Party Committee (Chairman Lee Young-soo) and Daegu City Party Committee (Chairman Heo So) held a joint seminar on Daegu-Gyeongbuk administrative integration under the theme "In the Era of Local Extinction, Is Administrative Integration Really Necessary?"

The seminar, held on the 12th at the Kim Dae-jung Hall of the Democratic Party Daegu City Party Committee, was attended by about 50 key party officials including Lee Young-soo, Chairman of the Gyeongbuk Provincial Party Committee, Heo So, Chairman of the Daegu City Party Committee, executive committee members of city and provincial party committees, and city and provincial council members, who engaged in a debate on the pros and cons of administrative integration.

The Democratic Party Daegu City Party and Gyeongbuk Provincial Party are holding a joint seminar on the administrative integration of Daegu and Gyeongbuk, and the attendees are gathered together for a commemorative photo.

Professor Jin Jong-heon of the Department of Geography at Kongju National University pointed out in his presentation, "There are global megacity cases for balanced development such as the regionalization of France's regions and the Manchester City case in the UK, but all of these were preceded by the establishment of competitive regional strategies, conditional budget input based on agreements and contracts with the central government, and strengthening of inter-regional networks. There has been no case where administrative integration was done first like Daegu-Gyeongbuk."

Professor Jin continued, "Even looking at domestic cases such as the integration of Cheongju-Cheongwon and Masan-Changwon-Jinhae local governments, which caused many side effects, if the Daegu-Gyeongbuk integration at the metropolitan level is not decided by a residents' referendum, it could lead to serious consequences," expressing concern over the move to decide integration solely with the consent of the Daegu-Gyeongbuk city and provincial councils.

Democratic Party Pohang City Councilor Kim Eun-joo emphasized, "Under a normal political environment, integration in the style of Lee Cheol-woo and Hong Joon-pyo would be impossible," and stressed, "If a top-down integration is carried out by leveraging one-party dominance, it will have a negative impact on overcoming local extinction and on virtuous cycle regional development."

Democratic Party Chairman of the Goryeong-Seongju-Chilgok Committee, Jeong Seok-won, pointed out, "Small cities like Goryeong adjacent to Daegu are accumulating only waste that could not enter Daegu's urban center, and residents are leaving due to deteriorating residential environments," and argued, "Daegu-Gyeongbuk integration, centered on the metropolitan city of Daegu, will not help the development of Gyeongbuk, which is facing the risk of extinction."

Lee Young-soo, Chairman of the Gyeongbuk Provincial Party Committee, stated, "It is a serious mistake that the two metropolitan governors, Lee Cheol-woo and Hong Joon-pyo, are pushing for Daegu-Gyeongbuk administrative integration and intend to decide integration solely with the approval of the city and provincial councils, which destroys democracy," and insisted, "Since it took 20 years to relocate the Gyeongbuk Provincial Office, no matter what difficulties arise, the process must go through public discussion and be decided by a residents' referendum of the city and provincial citizens."

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