Sang-il Lee, Mayor of Yongin, "Metropolitan District Heads Should Be Promoted from Grade 4 to Grade 3"

"Need for Fairness with Grade 3 Deputy Heads in Counties with Populations Under 50,000"
Calls for Introduction of Deputy District Mayor System to Address Rising Administrative Demands

To effectively respond to the administrative demands of large cities including special cases, frontline local governments have raised the need to elevate the rank of district mayors and introduce a deputy district mayor system in large cities.

On the 10th, Lee Sang-il, Mayor of Yongin City, Gyeonggi Province, sent a letter to Ko Ki-dong, Acting Minister of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, requesting that the current rank of district mayors in large cities including special cases, which is currently Local Secretary (Grade 4), be elevated to Local Deputy Director (Grade 3), and that a deputy district mayor system be newly established.

In the letter, Mayor Lee explained, "The administrative demands of large cities with a continuously growing urban structure, such as Yongin City where the population is increasing, are steadily rising," adding, "It is difficult to effectively respond to administrative demands under the current Grade 4 district mayor system." He emphasized, "Elevating the rank of district mayors, who are key heads overseeing eup, myeon, and dong administrations, and introducing a deputy district mayor system also align with the realization of the local era that the Ministry of the Interior and Safety expects."

Mayor Lee also stressed the need to elevate the rank of district mayors from the perspective of fairness with county-level local governments. Previously, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety raised the rank of deputy heads of 41 cities and counties with populations between 50,000 and 100,000 to Grade 3 last year, and recently adjusted the rank of deputy heads of 523 counties with populations under 50,000 to Grade 3 as well.

On the other hand, in the case of large cities with populations over 500,000 or special cases with populations over 1 million, the rank of district mayors remains at Grade 4, indicating a need for improvement in terms of fairness and efficiency. For example, in Yongin City, a special case city with a population over 1 million, as of the end of last year, the population of Giheung District was about 440,000 and Suji District about 380,000.

Mayor Lee also expressed the position that the introduction of a deputy district mayor system is necessary in large cities. Through the letter, he stated, "In the case of Yongin City, which handles administration at the metropolitan city level, an organizational system commensurate with the responsibilities and authority, such as elevating the rank of district mayors and introducing a deputy district mayor system, is necessary."