Candidate Heo Seok Abruptly Accepts Special City Pledge from Former Superintendent Jang Man-chae's Camp

Deletion of Special City Criteria...Potential to Emerge as a Central City in Namjung Region

[Suncheon=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Hyung-kwon] Heo Seok, a preliminary candidate for Suncheon mayor from the Democratic Party, who is heading into the runoff election, announced on the 3rd that he has decided to fully accept the ‘Special City Promotion’ election pledge of former Superintendent of Education Jang Man-chae, who narrowly lost in the first primary.

Candidate Heo said, “I accepted Superintendent Jang Man-chae’s special city pledge because I believe it is a good plan for Suncheon to emerge as the central city of the southern central region,” adding, “We will consult with each other in the future to cooperate with central politicians and promote it.”

Until now, the requirement for designation as a special city was a population of over 500,000, but the population limit clause has been removed, making it possible for cities with populations under 500,000 to pursue this status.

In the amendment agreed upon by the National Assembly in December 2020, the ‘population over 500,000’ criterion was removed, allowing cities, counties, and districts designated by the Minister of the Interior and Safety to be designated as special cities, considering national balanced development and the crisis of local extinction.

Jeonju City in Jeonbuk Province (650,000 population), which does not yet have special city status, and Chuncheon City in Gangwon Province (280,000 population), which has a population similar to Suncheon, are also pursuing special city status, so it is expected that Suncheon, the most populous city in Jeollanam-do, will also be eligible.

Earlier, former Superintendent of Education Jang Man-chae strongly argued that “Suncheon must be designated as a special city to promote balanced national development, respond to the crisis of local extinction, and lay the foundation for the southern capital theory revealed by Democratic Party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung.”

A special city is a new type of local government that maintains the status of a basic local government while securing administrative and financial autonomy commensurate with the status of a metropolitan city and is granted a legal status differentiated from general cities.

It is known that 86 functions and 383 unit tasks, previously handled by central government departments, such as metropolitan area wide transportation management, will be delegated to special cities.

In particular, special cities will have eight powers including ▲the right to issue regional development bonds ▲building permits ▲designation of housing development districts ▲approval for farmland conversion ▲designation and cancellation of development restriction zones ▲adjustment of ranks and personnel of public officials below grade 5 ▲establishment and registration of local research institutes, among others.

Meanwhile, candidate Heo Seok is from Haeryong-myeon, Suncheon, graduated from Suncheon High School and Seoul National University’s Department of Economics, and has served as director of the Labor Issues Research Institute that opens the dawn, and co-chairman of the Jeonnam joint election campaign committee for President Moon Jae-in.

In the 2018 Suncheon mayoral election, he was the only Democratic Party mayoral candidate elected in the three cities of the eastern Jeonnam region and is currently serving as the mayor of Suncheon in the 7th local government term.

The final runoff election for the Democratic Party’s Suncheon mayoral race will be decided on the 4th and 5th through a public opinion poll with 50% rights party members and 50% general citizens.