Mayor Lee Jangwoo: "Strongly Urge President Lee Jaemyung and the Ruling Party to Hold a Referendum"

"71.6% of Daejeon citizens say a referendum is necessary"

"It must be clearly enshrined in law within bills on finances, organization, personnel, and projects that align with local decentralization"

Lee Jangwoo, Mayor of Daejeon (Photo by Mo Seokbong)

Lee Jangwoo, Mayor of Daejeon, held an emergency press conference on the 23rd in the briefing room at City Hall regarding the public opinion poll on the administrative integration of Daejeon and South Chungcheong Province, and stated, "A public opinion poll has found that 71.6% of Daejeon citizens believe a referendum is necessary," adding, "I strongly urge President Lee Jaemyung and the ruling party in government to hold a referendum."

He went on to stress, "Accepting the views of citizens that we must have sufficient time for deliberation on integration, it is only right to proceed with integration after fully discussing the matter until there is no confusion in the region, and after clearly enshrining in law, within bills related to finances, organization, personnel, and projects that are fundamentally aligned with local decentralization, the provisions on administrative integration."

The mayor said, "The push-through style of administrative integration must be halted immediately, and the process must move forward while fully reflecting the opinions of Daejeon citizens and South Chungcheong Province residents and allowing ample time for deliberation," adding, "I call on the president, the ruling party in government, and the political organizations that are aggressively pushing this plan to stop it at once and to ensure there is sufficient time for careful discussion."

He continued, "We cannot at this moment agree to integration under this distorted framework that citizens are concerned about," and added, "I hope the Democratic Party will first persuade the civic groups in the ruling camp, which it has long regarded as allies."

He further stated, "Regarding the situation in which even parts of the ruling camp's support base, such as the Daejeon Citizens' Coalition for Participation and Autonomy, the Daejeon branch of the Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice, the Cheonan-Asan branch of the Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice, the Daejeon Institute of Civil Society, the Daejeon Community Movement Alliance, the Daejeon Community Activists Forum, the Daejeon Citizens' Assembly Forum, the Justice Party, the Korea Federation of Micro Enterprise, and the Citizens Love Council, are opposing this plan, I take this very seriously and demand that discussions on this matter be halted immediately."

In conclusion, he reiterated, "I am firmly opposed to integration that is pursued through certain incentives or such coercive structures," and emphasized again, "We must pursue integration only when it is firmly equipped with elements such as genuine local decentralization, regional equality, and a framework that allows us to compete with global cities."