Gimcheon City Proposes Prioritizing Innovation City for Second-Phase Public Institution Relocations

Policy Proposal Submitted at National Policy Briefing
Improving Residential Conditions as a Solution to Regional Decline

Gimcheon City in North Gyeongsang Province strongly urged the central government to prioritize placing public institutions in the existing innovation city during the upcoming second phase of public institution relocations.

'9th Term Elected Si/Gun/Gu Mayors National Policy Briefing' Public Institution Attraction Performance
[Photo by Gimcheon City]

The city announced that on August 27, at the ‘9th Elected District Mayors National Policy Briefing’ held at the Seoul Government Complex and the Presidential Office's State Guest House, it submitted a policy proposal aimed at strengthening the self-sufficiency of the innovation city.

The core demand is to avoid selecting new locations or scattering relocations, and instead to prioritize and concentrate the second-phase relocation of public institutions in the existing innovation city.

The city emphasized that since the first phase of relocation already resulted in the development of essential infrastructure, utilizing unsold cluster sites within the innovation city would reduce relocation costs and further enhance the effectiveness of related policies.

In particular, the city identified the expansion of medical and educational infrastructure as a key task. The city pointed out that the lack of major hospitals, specialized pediatric medical services, and an excellent educational environment currently limits the possibility of families relocating together.

The city therefore requested government-led attraction of major hospitals and the expansion of national funding support, along with strengthening educational infrastructure by designating science high schools, autonomous public high schools, and leading hub schools.

Mayor Bae Nak-ho stated, “We made it clear to the central government the structural limitations in residential conditions that the existing innovation city has faced since the first phase of relocations. By leveraging existing infrastructure, we will reduce relocation costs and attract major hospitals and prestigious schools to complete the self-sufficiency of the innovation city.”

The success or failure of the second-phase relocation of public institutions will depend less on the number of institutions and more on the availability of medical and educational infrastructure to enable families to settle together. As such, attention is focused on how Gimcheon City’s requests will be reflected in government policy.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.