"If the Regions Collapse, So Does Korea"

A Turning Point for Urban-Rural Complex Cities
Groundbreaking Amendment Targets Policy Blind Spots
Sixteen Lawmakers Unite to Support Balanced Regional Development

The regions of the Republic of Korea are disappearing. Urban-rural complex cities, where rural and urban areas coexist, are suffering on the frontlines of population decline, yet current systems have largely ignored them.

"If the Regions Collapse, So Does Korea"

The "Seminar on Responding to Population Extinction in Urban-Rural Complex Cities" held at the National Assembly directly targeted these structural irrationalities and opened a new turning point.

According to hidden crisis statistics for urban-rural complex cities, the population decline rate in the eup and myeon areas of these cities has become steeper than that of gun-level regions. This is the result of a combination of youth outmigration, weakening industrial bases, and disparities in living infrastructure. However, under the current legal system, these areas have been excluded from support, effectively leaving them in a policy blind spot.

The "Partial Amendment to the Local Decentralization and Balanced Development Act," which drew attention at this seminar, aims to address this very issue. Assemblyman Kang Myunggu sponsored the bill, joined by Policy Committee Chairman Kim Jungjae, Assemblyman Lee Jongbae, National Defense Committee Chairman Sung Iljong, Assemblyman Kang Minkook, Gyeongbuk Party Chairman Koo Jageun, and a total of 16 National Assembly members.

The amendment is being hailed as groundbreaking, as it seeks to eliminate blind spots in support and provide an institutional basis for substantial assistance to the eup and myeon areas of urban-rural complex cities.

"The survival of the regions is the survival of the nation." On this day, Party Representative Jang Donghyuk, Daegu City Party Chairman Lee Inseon, and Assembly members Chu Kyungho, Lee Manhee, Kim Kihyun, Cho Seunghwan, Kim Jangkyum, and Kim Jaeseop attended to lend their support. Participants unanimously emphasized the urgent need for special measures targeting urban-rural complex cities, stating that "the extinction of the regions is the extinction of the nation."

The city of Gumi stated, "We will do our utmost to ensure that this discussion does not end as a mere declaration but leads to genuine institutional reform."

A watershed moment in the discourse on balanced development: Until now, responses to regional extinction have focused mainly on rural and gun-level areas. However, the fact that urban-rural complex cities with populations exceeding 300,000 are collapsing even more rapidly has received relatively little attention. This legislative discussion is likely to become a turning point that shifts the center of gravity in regional policy.

Experts analyze that "urban-rural complex cities have structural limitations, bearing the weaknesses of both urban and rural areas," and that "if this bill passes, the paradigm of the national balanced development strategy itself will change."

This seminar went beyond the simple discourse of 'reviving the regions' to pose a fundamental question about where the foundation for the nation's survival should lie. The amendment proposed in the National Assembly is only the first step in addressing institutional cracks; the real test will be whether tangible changes are realized in the regions after the bill passes.

The regions are no longer just 'recipients of support' but a condition for the survival of the Republic of Korea. Attention is focused on whether the warning that "if the regions collapse, so does Korea" will become a national strategy beyond the political sphere.