City achieves 91 of 92 indicators, a 98.9% attainment rate; carbon neutrality and emergency medical care named best-practice cases

Ulsan City Hall. Ulsan ranked first among special and metropolitan cities in the quantitative assessment of the 2026 Joint Evaluation of Local Governments for the second consecutive year. [Ulsan City]
Ulsan City Hall. Ulsan ranked first among special and metropolitan cities in the quantitative assessment of the 2026 Joint Evaluation of Local Governments for the second consecutive year. [Ulsan City]

Ulsan ranked first among South Korea's special and metropolitan cities in the quantitative assessment of the 2026 Joint Evaluation of Local Governments for the second consecutive year, according to results announced Friday.

The Joint Evaluation of Local Governments is an annual assessment conducted by the Ministry of Interior and Safety covering all local governments nationwide, measuring performance across state-delegated affairs, nationally subsidized projects and key national policy initiatives. This year's evaluation incorporated policy priorities of the Lee Jae Myung administration — including protection of socially vulnerable groups, public safety and climate crisis response — and was divided into three components: a quantitative assessment, a qualitative assessment and a public assessment.

Ulsan achieved 91 of 92 indicators in the quantitative assessment, posting a target attainment rate of 98.91% to claim the top spot among special and metropolitan cities for the second year running. Sejong came in second at 97.8%, followed by Daegu at 95.65%.

In the qualitative assessment, Ulsan's initiative — titled "Cut carbon and boost imports with waste-heat steam recirculation" — was selected as a best-practice case in the carbon neutrality and green growth implementation category.

In the public assessment, conducted by a panel of 850 citizens drawn equally from all 17 cities and provinces, Ulsan's emergency medical program — "Ulsan's smart emergency medical lifestyle: Call! Call! Call!" — was named a best-practice case in the category of improving regional emergency patient transport and reception systems.

Ulsan City said the results reflected its efforts to "continuously monitor progress on each evaluation indicator and strengthen cooperation with district and county offices through proactive responses," adding that it would "actively identify more performance-driven administrative services that citizens can feel directly."

The Ministry of Interior and Safety plans to provide top-performing cities and provinces with financial incentives including special local allocation tax grants, and will publish the results on the local government information portal (www.laiis.go.kr) to share best practices with local governments nationwide.


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