Prime Minister Kim Minseok Announces TF for Jeonnam-Gwangju Integrated Special City...Launches Review of Special Provisions

Full-fledged discussions on fiscal support and transfer of authority amid blockage of 119 key special provisions
Calls for reflecting special provisions on transfer of national taxes, long-term fiscal support, and energy industry
Prime minister: "We will form a TF including the vice governor and vice mayor...and re-examine the proposals that were not accepted"

The Office of the Prime Minister is pushing to establish a dedicated task force (TF) to discuss fiscal support and the transfer of authority for the special metropolitan city to be created through the administrative integration of Jeonnam and Gwangju. As controversy continued after some key special provisions were not accepted during the review process by government ministries, the prime minister, the heads of the Gwangju and Jeonnam local governments, and local members of the National Assembly met in person to seek solutions.

Prime Minister Kim Minseok is taking a commemorative photo with attendees on the 9th at the Prime Minister's official residence in Samcheong-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, ahead of a meeting on the administrative integration of Jeonnam and Gwangju. Yonhap News

According to Gwangju Metropolitan City, South Jeolla Province, and others on the 10th, Prime Minister Kim Minseok met the previous evening at the Seoul official residence with Gwangju Mayor Kang Gijung, South Jeolla Province Governor Kim Young-rok, and local members of the National Assembly from the Democratic Party of Korea to discuss ways to promote the administrative integration of Jeonnam and Gwangju. At the meeting, the Office of the Prime Minister decided to form a TF to re-examine the special provisions of the special act, including issues related to fiscal support and the transfer of authority.

Previously, as a result of the review by government ministries, 119 key special provisions out of 386 articles in the special act were not accepted, and some provisions were reportedly reflected in revised form. In response, Governor Kim, Mayor Kang, and local members of the National Assembly issued a joint resolution at the 5th policy meeting on the special act for the administrative integration of Jeonnam and Gwangju, held on the 8th, calling for the enactment of an integrated special act that includes bold special provisions on fiscal support and authority.

At the meeting that day, Governor Kim Young-rok said, “President Lee Jaemyung is emphasizing administrative integration as the starting point of region-led growth and as a national survival strategy, but some ministries remain passive about transferring authority,” stressing the need to incorporate key special provisions for fostering the AI and energy industries.

Regarding the fiscal sector, Governor Kim stated that “it is difficult to complete the integrated special metropolitan city with only four years of support,” and said that the law must clearly stipulate a long-term fiscal support system, including the creation of a new integrated special grant and the transfer of national taxes.

On the transfer of permitting authority for solar and wind power generation projects, he explained that granting permitting authority to the special mayor would increase local residents’ acceptance, enable the swift development of power generation complexes, and make it possible to return power generation profits to the region and to implement profit-sharing models. He also called for the transfer of authority to designate agrivoltaic solar power zones and for extending the period for temporary permission to use farmland for other purposes from the current 8 years to 30 years, in order to establish a RE100 (100% renewable energy) industrial complex in the southwestern region.

Governor Kim and Mayor Kang formally requested that 31 key special provisions, including the establishment of a national medical school and the designation of a hub national university, be included in the special act.

Mayor Kang Gijung said, “The integration of Gwangju and Jeonnam is not a local civil complaint but a matter of survival for the Republic of Korea and the region,” and added, “The central government should not be bound by conventions and existing systems, but should create an integration that changes the lives of city and provincial residents through the enactment of a truly effective special act.”

Prime Minister Kim Minseok said, “We will form a TF that includes the vice governor and vice mayor of the city and province to re-examine the proposals that were not accepted by each ministry,” adding, “We share the view on the transfer of authority, and starting tomorrow, let us discuss the matter in depth.”

Governor Kim and Mayor Kang plan to continue lobbying central government ministries and the National Assembly to secure the inclusion of key special provisions, in line with the National Assembly’s deliberation schedule.

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