Chungnam Province: Cheonan and Asan Are the Optimal Sites for the Establishment of the 'Immigration and Foreigners Management Agency'

Chungnam Province will intensify efforts to attract the government’s planned establishment of the ‘Immigration and Immigration Management Agency’.

Chungnam Governor Kim Tae-heum held a press conference at the Chungnam Provincial Office on the 14th, emphasizing the necessity of attracting the 'Immigration and Immigration Service Agency' to the Cheonan-Asan Station area. Photo by Chungnam Province

According to Chungnam Province on the 14th, the government is promoting the establishment of the Immigration and Immigration Management Agency as a comprehensive policy institution to activate immigration as a solution to population decline.

In this regard, Chungnam Province plans to persuade both ruling and opposition parties and form a pan-provincial attraction committee to ensure that the Immigration and Immigration Management Agency can take root near Cheonan·Asan Station.

Chungnam Province also emphasizes the necessity of attracting the Immigration and Immigration Management Agency to Cheonan·Asan. The fact that Chungnam ranks fourth nationwide and has the largest number of foreign residents outside the metropolitan area, along with easy accessibility from all parts of the country, are presented as grounds for establishing the agency in Cheonan·Asan.

For example, as of November last year, the number of foreign residents in Chungnam was 136,006, ranking fourth nationwide after Gyeonggi (751,507), Seoul (442,289), and Incheon (146,885). It is also counted as having the largest number of foreign residents among non-metropolitan areas.

Currently, some local governments in the metropolitan area are appealing by preparing regional attraction justifications to attract the Immigration and Immigration Management Agency.

However, considering the scale of foreign residents and the fact that the Overseas Koreans Agency was established in Incheon (metropolitan area) last June, Chungnam Province argues that it is reasonable for the Immigration and Immigration Management Agency to be established in Chungnam.

In particular, Chungnam has the geographical advantage of being located at the center of the country, and the development of transportation networks such as KTX makes it easy for foreigners scattered across the country to access, which is also cited as a positive factor.

Additionally, Chungnam Province explains that the high preference for relocation to Chungnam (Cheonan·Asan) among public officials subject to transfer from the Ministry of Justice and others due to the establishment of the Immigration and Immigration Management Agency will reduce the burden of establishing the agency.

Kim Tae-heum, Governor of Chungnam Province, said, “From the perspective of national balanced development, it is appropriate to establish the Immigration and Immigration Management Agency in a non-metropolitan area rather than the metropolitan area,” adding, “In particular, the area around Cheonan·Asan Station is adjacent to the metropolitan area and has transportation networks connected nationwide, making it the optimal location for establishing the Immigration and Immigration Management Agency.”

Governor Kim also emphasized, “It is true that some people are concerned about the side effects of immigration, such as increased competition for youth jobs and social conflicts, but immigration policy activation and the establishment of the Immigration and Immigration Management Agency are unavoidable tasks to prevent regional extinction due to population decline and industrial base collapse due to labor shortages.”