Agreement Reached on "City-District-County" Method for Administrative Codes in Jeonnam-Gwangju Integrated Special City

Compromise Reached on the Arrangement of 27 Cities, Counties, and Districts

Standardized Codes for Joint Use Among Administrative Agencies

As the launch of the Jeonnam-Gwangju Integrated Special City approaches, the ongoing disagreement between Gwangju City and South Jeolla Province regarding the arrangement order of standard administrative codes for cities, counties, and districts has been settled using the "city-district-county" method. The issue, which had sparked continued conflict due to its potential impact on administrative hierarchy and protocol standards, has been resolved through a compromise reached in city-province consultations.

According to Gwangju City and other sources on April 28, Gwangju City and South Jeolla Province have agreed to assign standard administrative codes for the 27 basic local governments of the Integrated Special City in the following order: five cities from South Jeolla, five autonomous districts from Gwangju, and 17 counties from South Jeolla. This "city-district-county" structure places South Jeolla's cities first, followed by Gwangju's autonomous districts, and then the counties at the end.

The standard administrative code is a system that standardizes various codes necessary for administrative tasks to enable the joint use of information among government agencies. It is also used for resident registration, real estate locations, map applications, and delivery app address systems. The city/province code is assigned to the first two digits, and the basic local government code is assigned to the last three digits.

Provided by Gwangju City

Currently, Gwangju City uses the city/province code 29, and South Jeolla Province uses 46. Gwangju’s five autonomous districts use basic local government codes ranging from 359 to 363, South Jeolla’s five cities use 480 to 484, and its 17 counties use 485 to 501. These codes are scheduled to be newly adjusted in line with the launch of the Integrated Special City.

The two sides have differed over the order in which to arrange Gwangju’s five autonomous districts and South Jeolla’s 22 cities and counties within the Integrated Special City. Gwangju City advocated the "district-city-county" method, which places districts with larger populations first, while South Jeolla Province insisted on the "city-county-district" order reflecting the administrative unit hierarchy defined by the Local Autonomy Act.

The issue of the standard administrative code arrangement has sparked debate not only for administrative convenience but also because it could affect protocol standards, such as the order of work reports after the election of the integrated mayor, the order of official event announcements, and seating arrangements. In particular, concerns were raised about the possibility of Gwangju’s autonomous districts being placed after some counties.

After discussions, both parties agreed on a compromise: South Jeolla’s cities would be listed first, followed by Gwangju’s autonomous districts, and then South Jeolla’s counties.

With this agreement, Gwangju City plans to accelerate the integration of administrative information systems and data migration based on the new administrative codes. A Gwangju City official stated, “There were various opinions, but we reached a compromise,” and added, “The order of administrative codes is unrelated to protocol or the order of work reports.”

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