Shin Jeonghun: "Eup and Myeon Areas in Urban-Rural Integrated Cities Facing Severe Population Decline"

Excluded from Various Special Support Measures, Resulting in Reverse Discrimination
"Designation as Population Decline Areas Needed to Eliminate Blind Spots"

Shin Jeonghun, member of the Democratic Party of Korea.

Shin Jeonghun, Chair of the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee (Democratic Party of Korea, Naju and Hwasun in South Jeolla Province), criticized the current system during the committee's government audit held on October 14, pointing out the unreasonable reality that eup and myeon areas within urban-rural integrated cities are excluded from various special support measures despite experiencing population decline and severe underdevelopment.

Urban-rural integrated cities were introduced by the government between 1994 and 1995 to promote the development and balanced growth of rural areas. However, eup and myeon areas within these cities are facing worsening population decline and economic stagnation, contrary to the original intent. The current criteria for designating 'population decline areas' are applied only at the city and county level, which means eup and myeon areas within urban-rural integrated cities are not classified as population decline areas and are thus left in a support blind spot.

As a result, major support measures such as the Ministry of the Interior and Safety's Local Extinction Response Fund are distributed only to 89 areas designated as population decline regions, while urban-rural integrated cities like Naju and Suncheon receive virtually no actual support.

In reality, even if the total population of Suncheon remains stable, the population in its eup and myeon areas continues to decrease. In Yeongsanpo, Naju, for example, after its status changed from eup to dong, the population plummeted from around 24,000 to less than 8,500, making the phenomenon of local extinction increasingly apparent.

Chairman Shin criticized the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, the main government body responsible for addressing local extinction, for its lukewarm response to this issue. He stated, "Due to loopholes in the current system, the most vulnerable areas are unable to receive any special benefits," and stressed, "To enhance the effectiveness of local extinction response policies, eup and myeon areas within urban-rural integrated cities must also be designated as population decline areas, and support should be expanded." He strongly emphasized the urgent need for institutional reform.

Chairman Shin further stated, "With the current uniform designation method, it is difficult to reflect the realities of rural areas," and highlighted the need for more flexible and realistic policy measures.

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