Park Wan-soo and Kang Ki-yoon: "Changwon City Administrative System Reform According to Residents' Will" ... Maintain Unification vs. Conversion to Autonomous Districts vs. Reversion to Regions

Simultaneous Resident Referendum on Gyeongnam–Busan Administrative Integration

"We will reorganize Changwon City's administrative system by holding a resident referendum to ask whether to maintain Unified Changwon City as it is or divide it into five autonomous districts."

On May 7, Park Wan-soo, preliminary candidate for governor of Gyeongsangnam-do from the People Power Party, and Kang Ki-yoon, preliminary candidate for Changwon Special City Mayor, held a joint press conference at the provincial government press center and announced their intention to promote a public debate on the reorganization of Changwon City's administrative system.

The move aims to address several issues: the voices of residents from Masan and Jinhae, who have experienced a sense of relative deprivation and slower development compared to Changwon since the city was unified in July 2010; evaluations that the city's growth has slowed due to budget dispersion; and concerns that, despite boasting the status of a special city with a population of one million, the number of residents is now on the decline.

Park Wan-soo, preliminary candidate for governor of Gyeongsangnam-do from the People Power Party (right), and Kang Ki-yoon, preliminary candidate for Changwon Special City Mayor, are holding a joint press conference to announce their campaign promise to promote the public discussion on the reorganization of Changwon City’s administrative system.
Photo by Lee Seryeong

Park explained, "At the time of the unification discussions, as the mayor of Changwon, I requested that the unification be pursued through a resident referendum, but the decision was ultimately made by the city and provincial councils in accordance with central government policy. As a result, residents of Masan and Jinhae now express concerns about the loss of regional identity and local imbalance."

He continued, "Currently, Changwon City's population is decreasing, and frequent personnel changes involving appointed district heads mean that local administrative needs are not being continuously reflected, nor is accountability ensured, leading to growing dissatisfaction among residents. Consequently, local residents are demanding the right to directly elect representatives responsible for local administration."

He also added, "In Busan, even Jung-gu, which has just 36,000 residents out of the 16 districts and counties, elects its district head through popular vote as an autonomous district. In contrast, each of Changwon's five districts has between 174,900 and 246,000 residents, but they are administrative districts rather than autonomous ones, so residents cannot directly elect their district heads."

He pointed out, "This creates fairness issues if Gyeongnam and Busan proceed with administrative integration, and it also exposes the limitations of achieving full local autonomy and accountable administration." He thus presented a plan to promote the introduction of autonomous district elections as part of the reorganization of Changwon City's administrative system.

However, he made it clear that the direction of Changwon City's administrative reorganization would be determined through a resident referendum.

Park Wan-su, pre-candidate for Governor of Gyeongnam Province from the People Power Party (right), and Kang Ki-yoon, pre-candidate for Changwon Special City Mayor, held a joint press conference to announce their campaign promise to promote the "public discussion of the reorganization of Changwon city's administrative system." Photo by Lee Seryeong

The two candidates proposed several options for reorganization: maintaining the current Changwon Special City structure; converting the five administrative districts—Uichang, Seongsan, Masanhwawon, Masanhappo, and Jinhae—into autonomous districts; or reverting Changwon, Masan, and Jinhae to either districts or individual cities.

During the process of promoting administrative integration between Gyeongnam and Busan, the plan is to ask Changwon residents about their preferences for the city's administrative structure in a referendum and reflect the outcome in the "Special Act on the Establishment of the Unified Gyeongnam–Busan City."

Although the Local Autonomy Act does not allow for autonomous districts at the provincial level, if Gyeongnam and Busan are integrated into a special city, Changwon would become part of a city unit. If the referendum result favors division into autonomous districts, Changwon can be reorganized accordingly under the special city framework.

To gather residents' opinions, the two candidates will form the "Changwon Special City Administrative System Public Debate Committee," with participation from local residents, local councils, academics, and experts.

The committee will decide on the details and methods of the resident referendum, and the referendum will be held simultaneously with the resident vote on the Gyeongnam–Busan administrative integration.

If the option of dividing into autonomous districts is chosen in the referendum, the heads of the new local governments will be elected in the 10th nationwide local elections in 2030.

Kang stated, "I regret that residents' opinions were not sought during the unification of Masan, Changwon, and Jinhae. Even if administrative integration between Gyeongnam and Busan does not go ahead, we will separately ask and reflect opinions on the Masan–Changwon–Jinhae unification, and move forward according to the will of the residents."

He added, "If the unification of Masan, Changwon, and Jinhae continues, we will maintain separate government offices in Masan and Jinhae to minimize the sense of loss, deprivation, and local imbalance currently felt by residents of those regions."

Park remarked, "It is the role of government and politics to resolve residents' complaints and raised issues, and in local autonomy, the top priority should be the will of the residents. Local autonomy means making decisions by residents, and I believe that accepting the residents' will is the responsibility of politics."

He further noted, "Even if Changwon is divided into autonomous districts, there will not be much difference in terms of increased financial burden or other major changes. Whether we maintain unification, divide into autonomous districts, or revert to the previous system, we will ask the residents and implement their decision as it is."

The two candidates agreed, "Reorganizing Changwon City's administrative system is a key task to enhance the completeness of administrative integration and realize genuine local autonomy and accountable administration. We will prioritize citizens' opinions in promoting our campaign pledges."

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