[Presidential Election D-1 Month Pledge Analysis③-Regional Balanced Development] Everyone Calls for Regional Development... Concerns Over Empty Promises Without Financial Plans

Mega City Pledges Presented by Both Ruling and Opposition Parties
Trillions to Tens of Trillions Won in Funding Required
Public Institution Relocation Mentioned Again
"To Avoid Empty Promises, Feasibility and Rationality Must Be Reviewed"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki-min Lee] The four presidential candidates from both ruling and opposition parties?Lee Jae-myung, Yoon Seok-yeol, Ahn Cheol-soo, and Sim Sang-jung?are united in calling for "balanced development" in regional pledges. This reflects the intention to reduce economic and social disparities between the metropolitan area and other regions to address population extinction and regional gaps. However, many pledges involve significant fiscal investment in mega cities, transportation, public institutions, and rural development, raising concerns that these may be perceived as excessive handouts.

◆Both Ruling and Opposition Parties Emphasize ‘Mega City’= The key topic for regional balanced development in this presidential election is the "Mega City." The concept of a mega city is to integrate small and medium-sized cities and nearby rural fishing villages into a single living zone. Each candidate proposes grouping populations of 5 million into one zone to build tailored infrastructure for each region, aiming to bridge the economic gap with the metropolitan area.

Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party candidate, announced a plan to designate five mega cities: not only the metropolitan area, the only mega city in Korea, but also the Southeast region (Busan, Ulsan, Gyeongnam), Daegyeong region (Daegu, Gyeongbuk), Central region (Sejong, Daejeon, Chungcheong), and Honam region (Jeonnam, Gwangju). He also proposed designating Gangwon, Jeonbuk, and Jeju as three special autonomous provinces. Recently, during a visit to Bongha Village in Gimhae, Gyeongnam, he revealed plans to form super-regions such as the Central region combining the metropolitan area, Chungcheong, and Gangwon, and the Southern region combining Yeongnam, Honam, and Jeju, to realize local decentralization.

Yoon Seok-yeol, the People Power Party candidate, recently pledged specific measures such as "wide-area transportation networks" and "specialized infrastructure for regional economies" during visits to local areas. Although Yoon mentioned mega cities during the party primaries, he shifted his stance in the general election citing differentiation from the Democratic Party and the need for more concrete pledges, but the overall framework remains largely similar.

Ahn Cheol-soo, the People’s Party candidate, mentioned the formation of the Chungcheong wide-area economic zone, the Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam (Bu-Ul-Gyeong) wide-area economic zone, and the PK (Busan, Gyeongnam) wide-area economic zone during visits to Cheongju, Busan, and Daegu last month. Ahn explained, "The way for regions to thrive is for the central government to share fiscal authority and legal powers with local governments, allowing them to compete and attract private companies on their own." Sim Sang-jung, the Justice Party candidate, plans to integrate cities, counties, and districts experiencing population decline into 70 innovation cities and create 200 strong small cities where jobs, education, and culture are accessible within 15 minutes, along with 2,000 village communities centered around them.

However, experts warn that candidates’ mega city pledges could easily become mere handouts. Projects included as part of mega city pledges?such as new airports (Daegu Global Economic Logistics Airport costing about 17.4 trillion won), wide-area railroads (undergrounding of Gyeongbu and Honam lines costing about 10.2 trillion won), and establishment of science and technology complexes related to innovation cities?require fiscal investments ranging from several trillion won to over 10 trillion won.

Professor Yoon Ji-woong of Kyung Hee University’s Department of Public Administration said, "Every election cycle brings pledges with heavy fiscal burdens, but Korea funds 30% of its national budget through income tax. If citizens consider these pledges as money coming out of their own pockets, they should evaluate their effectiveness and validity rather than blindly supporting them." Professor Park Sang-byeong of Inha University’s Graduate School of Policy emphasized, "It is natural for presidential candidates to announce regional balanced development pledges as a grand discourse to prevent regional extinction. However, to avoid these becoming handouts or empty promises, related dedicated organizations should be promptly established after the election to review feasibility and rationality."

◆‘Public Institution Relocation’ Reemerges= Candidates have also announced second-phase public institution relocation pledges or views, following the previous election. The candidates most proactive about relocating public institutions are Lee Jae-myung and Sim Sang-jung. Their rationale is to redistribute population by moving finance, administration, and other sectors concentrated in Seoul and the metropolitan area to local regions, thereby promoting balanced development. Lee pledged to relocate about 200 public institutions, while Sim pledged about 300.

Yoon Seok-yeol and Ahn Cheol-soo take a more cautious stance, saying public institution relocation should be decided carefully. Yoon stated he would conditionally relocate 100 public institutions after considering issues such as employee turnover, family life hardships, and performance evaluations of the relocations. Ahn also emphasized that relocation should be pursued cautiously based on major local industries, and that local governments should have fiscal authority and legal powers to attract private companies independently.

Given that considerable budgets are expected to be allocated to current issues such as the COVID-19 crisis, whichever candidate wins will need to secure concrete feasibility to gain common support from the public and institutions.

◆Flood of Pledges to Solve Rural and Fishing Village Issues= Candidates are also pouring out policies such as smart agriculture and increased direct payments and rural budgets to secure the votes of 2.4 million rural residents. Regarding agricultural development, Lee pledged food sovereignty, green carbon agriculture, and rural basic income; Yoon pledged future-oriented agriculture tailored to climate change and digitalization; Sim pledged overcoming three major crises?climate, food, and region?and a green transformation; and Ahn pledged building smart rural and fishing villages through big data and distribution information provision. Regarding budget and fiscal input, Lee and Sim promised to expand agricultural budgets to 5%, while Yoon and Ahn pledged to increase direct payment budgets to 5 trillion won.