Gwangju City Council Passes Proposal for the Enactment of the Local Council Act

Securing Autonomy and Independence of Local Councils
"The Beginning of Realizing a Decentralized Autonomous Nation"

On the 1st, members of the Gwangju Metropolitan Council who passed the "Ordinance on the Establishment of Local Councils" at the plenary session urged the National Assembly and the government to accept the proposal in the plenary hall.
[Photo by Gwangju Metropolitan Council]

On the 1st, the Gwangju Metropolitan Council announced on the 3rd that it had passed a resolution urging the enactment of the "Local Council Act" to secure the autonomy and independence of local councils at the 1st plenary session of the 2nd regular meeting.

Proposed by Shin Su-jeong, Chairperson of the Gwangju Metropolitan Council, the resolution, which was submitted and approved at the plenary session, calls for the early enactment of the "Local Council Act" to ensure mutual checks and balances and balanced authority between the two pillars of local decentralization?the local councils and local governments?and to promote residents' welfare and the mature realization of grassroots democracy. It also includes provisions that strengthen local autonomy more than similar bills already submitted to the National Assembly.

The council has been operating a Local Council Act Enactment Task Force composed of council members and external experts to urge the National Assembly and others to enact the Local Council Act. Since August, the task force has held working meetings with the council secretariat and produced a final draft of the bill.

Chairperson Shin emphasized, "Strengthening local self-sufficiency through local decentralization has become an urgent task to overcome the national crisis of population extinction," adding, "The early enactment of the 'Local Council Act' is essential for substantial local decentralization."

Meanwhile, the resolution is expected to be forwarded to the National Assembly, government agencies, and other key related organizations.