Daegu and Gyeongbuk Join Forces for Administrative Unification and New Airport Construction... Four-Way Meeting with Kyungho Chu, Cheolwoo Lee, Inhwan Lim, and Brian Heeseong Kim

On the afternoon of October 6 at 4 p.m., Kyungho Chu, Mayor of Daegu, Cheolwoo Lee, Governor of North Gyeongsang Province, Inhwan Lim, Chair of the Daegu City Council, and Brian Heeseong Kim, Chair of the Gyeongbuk Provincial Assembly, convened at the Sanggyeok Government Complex of Daegu City Hall and agreed to jointly address issues including the construction of the Daegu-Gyeongbuk Integrated New Airport, administrative unification, the second round of public institution relocations, cooperation for the ultra-wide regional living and economic zone, and the expansion of local fiscal resources.

Daegu and Gyeongbuk agreed to focus their efforts on enacting the Special Integration Act within the year and launching the Integrated Metropolitan City in 2028. To this end, they plan to hold a joint meeting with local National Assembly members in November, strengthen the functions of the Daegu-Gyeongbuk Administrative Unification Task Force, and collaborate closely on formulating a joint development strategy encompassing the northern region of Gyeongbuk.

Attending the Daegu-Gyeongbuk Four-Party Meeting, from left, Brian Heeseong Kim, Chairman of the Gyeongbuk Provincial Council, Cheolwoo Lee, Governor of Gyeongbuk Province, Kyungho Choo, Mayor of Daegu, and Inhwan Im, Chairman of the Daegu City Council, are holding hands to pledge mutual growth and cooperation.

Furthermore, Daegu and Gyeongbuk recognized that the Daegu-Gyeongbuk Integrated New Airport construction project serves as the growth engine for the region as well as a core initiative for balanced national development. They agreed to marshal all available local capabilities and coordinate to secure comprehensive governmental support for the successful implementation of the project.

In addition, the two regions agreed to maintain a close cooperative system regarding the second round of public institution relocations by the government and to fully launch their partnership for joint growth as a single ultra-wide living and economic zone. The two local governments decided to further solidify administrative and financial cooperation in the four areas of economy, transportation, tourism, and healthcare.

In the economic sector, they will formulate the ‘5 Strategic Hubs, 3 Special Districts Daegu-Gyeongbuk Growth Engine Fostering Plan’ by the end of the year and establish a joint task force to create a specialized industrial complex for the national advanced humanoid robot industry, thus working together to strengthen industrial competitiveness. In transportation, they aim to build the Daegu-Gyeongbuk regional transportation network to form a unified living and economic zone and will cooperate closely to ensure the smooth implementation of key initiatives, such as the Daegu-Gyeongbuk metropolitan railway.

For tourism, a Daegu-Gyeongbuk tourism consultative body will be established in line with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s "Local Airport-Centered Tourism Zone Development Project," and the two regions will jointly plan projects for the development and promotion/marketing of tourism content that enhance ultra-wide regional tourism cooperation. In healthcare, a governance body will be developed for essential medical cooperation across the ultra-wide region, and a joint project for linking medical resources to fill gaps in critical and emergency healthcare will be advanced in order to strengthen the safety net for essential medical services.

Daegu and Gyeongbuk made clear their opposition to the government’s plan to operate the Future Response Fund using resources from the local allocation tax, which is meant to be the region’s share. The two regions intend to join forces with local National Assembly members and other local governments to ensure that, during the legislative reviews and budget deliberations at the National Assembly in November, the allocation tax resources are distributed according to current standards. Additionally, they will work together to expand the region’s independent financial bases, such as the local allocation tax and local consumption tax.

Mayor Kyungho Chu remarked, “Daegu and Gyeongbuk are one family; the development of Daegu leads to the development of Gyeongbuk, and vice versa. Let’s cooperate closely on key issues such as administrative unification, the new airport, and public institution relocations.”

Governor Cheolwoo Lee commented, “The Daegu-Gyeongbuk Administrative Unification Act, currently pending at the National Assembly’s Legislation and Judiciary Committee, must be passed within this year, even if it requires protest. After one and a half years of preparations, we must achieve integration by the 2028 general elections. The delay in the opening of the new airport has led to 25 million pyeong (approximately 82.5 million square meters) of land being restricted; we can’t afford any further delays.”

Inhwan Lim, Chair of the Daegu City Council, stated, “Daegu and Gyeongbuk were originally one, and now it is time for formal unification. Let’s communicate and deliberate with the mindset of becoming one.” Brian Heeseong Kim, Chair of the Gyeongbuk Provincial Assembly, confessed, “Local autonomy is under threat of being wiped out, and we are at a point of desperate urgency with no room to retreat.”

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