"How Can It Be Rejected Just for Being in the Seoul Metropolitan Area?" Yeoncheon County Strongly Urges Guidelines for Opportunity Development Special Zones

Yeoncheon County Urges Establishment of Guidelines for Opportunity Development Special Zones
Press Conference at National Assembly... Calls for Ending "Reverse Discrimination" Against the Seoul Metropolitan Area
"Apply the Preferential Policy for Population-Declining Areas to the Seoul Metropolitan Area as Well"

On the morning of the 23rd, Yeoncheon County in Gyeonggi Province held a press conference at the National Assembly Communication Office, strongly calling for the formulation of guidelines for the operation (application) of Opportunity Development Special Zones for population-declining and border areas within the Seoul metropolitan area.

Yeoncheon-gun held a press conference at the National Assembly Press Briefing Room on the morning of the 23rd, strongly urging the preparation of guidelines for the operation and application of Opportunity Development Special Zones for population-declining areas and border areas within the Seoul metropolitan area. Provided by Yeoncheon-gun

This press conference was organized to convey the urgent situation of Yeoncheon County, which has not even been able to apply for designation as an Opportunity Development Special Zone for more than two years because detailed guidelines have not been established, even though population-declining areas within the Seoul metropolitan area are eligible for such designation under the Special Act on Decentralization of Local Autonomy and Balanced Regional Development, which came into effect in July 2023.

Although the government is pursuing, across the entire spectrum of state affairs, policies that preferentially support non-capital regions over the Seoul metropolitan area and population-declining areas over non-capital regions, Yeoncheon County, despite being a population-declining area, is being partially excluded from these preferential local policies simply because it is geographically located within the Seoul metropolitan area.

In non-capital regions, 55 Opportunity Development Special Zones have been designated so far, and investments totaling approximately 33 trillion won are underway, laying the foundation for revitalizing local economies. In particular, in the fifth additional round of designations announced on the 5th, the Busan and Ulsan regions were redesignated as special zones even though they had already been designated previously.

Seeking to overcome the risk of local extinction through designation as an Opportunity Development Special Zone, Yeoncheon County is working to foster the Yeoncheon BIX Industrial Complex as a core hub for green bio and high-tech industries and to promote corporate attraction and infrastructure development. However, because the special zone guidelines have not been established, the county is in a situation where it cannot even submit an application.

An official from Yeoncheon County stated, "Yeoncheon County is a special sacrifice area that has endured overlapping regulations, such as military facility protection zones, for decades in the interest of national security," adding, "Opportunity Development Special Zones are a key strategy for responding to local extinction, enabling young people to find jobs without leaving their hometowns. In line with the national policy of giving greater preference to population-declining areas than to non-capital regions, the government must swiftly establish guidelines for Opportunity Development Special Zones for population-declining and border areas within the Seoul metropolitan area."