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The ruling and opposition parties have agreed to launch an ad hoc committee on administrative reform at the National Assembly in early November, responding to a request from Cheong Wa Dae. Both the GNP and the main opposition Democratic Party are reportedly positive about the launching of such a special committee.
The ruling camp is considering maintaining the current metropolitan and provincial system but integrating city, county and district into a new administrative unit with a population of at least 500,000 and keeping urban areas with a population of about 1 million.
It could establish some administrative units with about 300,000 population with a view to preventing about 10 sparsely-populated cities and counties in rural areas from being integrated into a single unit. In this case, the current total of 232 cities, counties and districts will likely be integrated into 40-70 administrative units.
A senior presidential official said it would be difficult to abolish municipalities and provinces overnight, as some politicians have demanded, given opposition from chiefs of local administrations and the need to promote coordination between cities, counties and districts. ˇ°We're considering maintaining municipalities and provinces, while drastically reducing their administrative functions but leaving their inter-municipal and inter-provincial coordinating functions intact."
The DP, meanwhile, is minded to abolish municipalities and provinces and integrate them into 60 to 70 cities, counties and districts. The Liberty Forward Party is calling for a kind of confederate system, in which administrative regions are integrated into several metropolitan areas. Compromise is clearly needed.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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