(From left) Interior Minister Lee Sang-min (first from left) poses with North Gyeongsang Province Governor Lee Cheol-woo, Daegu Mayor Hong Joon-pyo and Presidential Committee for Balanced National Development Chairman Woo Dong-gi during a press conference on the envisioned integrated provincial government of North Gyeongsang Province and Daegu held at the government complex in Seoul on Tuesday. (Yonhap)
Leaders of the southeastern metropolitan city of Daegu, 240 kilometers from Seoul, and the surrounding North Gyeongsang Province on Tuesday agreed on plans to launch an integrated provincial government in 2026 with support from the central government.
The agreement was made at a meeting attended by Daegu Mayor Hong Joon-pyo, North Gyeongsang Gov. Lee Cheol-woo, Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min and Woo Dong-gi, chairman of the Presidential Committee for Decentralization and Balanced Development.
"It was agreed to implement the relevant procedures with the aim of enacting a special law within this year to launch the unified provincial government on July 1, 2026," the government said in a press release issued after the meeting.
The interior ministry said it will form a task force team and map out detailed support measures on a central government level to back up the provincial governments' effort for the integration
To push forward the project as scheduled, Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province aim to obtain an approval from the city council and the provincial assembly, respectively, and adopt a special law within this year.
During the meeting, Hong proposed a two-tier administrative system that would put the integrated Daegu and North Gyeongsang under the direction of the prime minister, instead of the interior minister, like the Seoul metropolitan government, while Gov. Lee has also mentioned a "complete autonomous local government" as a model for the integrated body.
If Daegu and North Gyeongsang are actually integrated into a single local government, it will be the first case of administrative integration between wide-area local self-governments.
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