South Korea’s Democratic Party to Introduce Special Act for Jeonnam-Gwangju Special City

Jeonnam Gov. Kim Young Rok speaks about the proposed merger name and city hall site. — Jeonnam Gov. Kim Young Rok: “What will the merged city be called? Where will city hall be?” (Yonhap)

The Democratic Party said it will introduce, as a party-line bill, a special act to establish “Jeonnam-Gwangju Special City,” a key step toward administrative integration between Gwangju and South Jeolla Province.

The party said on Tuesday that its special committee on the Gwangju-Jeonnam integration plan postponed the filing of the bill that had been scheduled for that day.

The delay was to address shortcomings in the draft. Provincial and city officials and local lawmakers had agreed to hold a meeting Wednesday morning, but canceled it and decided to hand the bill to the party’s legislative support group.

The committee said the legislative support group will review the Jeonnam-Gwangju Special City bill, along with other regional integration measures, so it can be processed quickly and introduced as the party’s official position.

A day earlier, the committee agreed to name the merged local government “Jeonnam-Gwangju Special City,” and to use “Gwangju Special City” as an abbreviated name. It had said it would file the special act on Tuesday.

The location of the main city hall will be left to the authority of the unified mayor, whose term begins July 1.

* This article has been translated by AI.

KWONKYUHONG spikekwon@ajunews.com