'Local government' or 'local autonomous entity'? The terminology debate reflects a deeper question about decentralization

The difference between the two terms reflects how central government views local authority — and changing the name may require amending the constitution

The entrance marker of Government Complex Sejong [Yonhap]

"The head of a local autonomous entity, who must decide to evacuate residents amid torrential rain and be the first to rush to a disaster scene, is the frontline official responsible for disaster prevention and response."

"Local governments of the two countries, along with government agencies and businesses, are participating to expand exchanges between local governments into substantive economic and industrial cooperation … "

Documents produced by central government ministries and related public institutions use both "local government" and "local autonomous entity" interchangeably. While this rarely causes confusion in context, the choice between the two terms carries its own significance — it reflects how one perceives the underlying reality.

The structural linguist Ferdinand de Saussure divided the linguistic sign into the signifiant (signifier) and the signifié (signified) based on their functional roles. The signifier is "that which signifies," and the signified is "that which is signified."

Saussure viewed language not as a substance but as a form — an autonomous system containing everything within itself. A linguistic sign carries no fixed, inherent meaning; rather, it acquires its unique meaning, or signified, through the differences and relationships it holds with other signs within the language system.

With that in mind, let us return to the two terms in question.

The National Institute of Korean Language defines "local government" as either a term used to refer to a local autonomous entity in contrast to the central government in the context of local autonomy, or a term for each self-governing unit that makes up a federation in a federal state, again in contrast to the central government.

The Standard Korean Dictionary, by contrast, defines "local autonomous entity" as an organization that covers part of a nation's territory — such as a special city, metropolitan city, province, city or county — and holds governing authority within that zone to the extent permitted by law. The definition also encompasses a body that handles affairs related to residents' welfare, manages public property, and may enact regulations on self-governance within the bounds of applicable statutes.

A comparison of the differences between "local government" and "local autonomous entity" [Google AI]

So what does it matter whether one uses "local government" or "local autonomous entity"?

The point at which the two terms began to be used interchangeably across central ministries and public institutions can be traced to a Cabinet meeting held Oct. 21 last year.

At that meeting, President Lee Jae Myung proposed replacing the term "local autonomous entity" with "local government" going forward.

Lee told Ministry of Interior and Safety Minister Yun Ho-jung that day that "a local government is another sovereign body, and we must not reduce it to something like a neighborhood association or a voluntary group by calling it a jachache," adding, "Please be mindful of that."

He went on to say that "local government is the space where people exercise authority as sovereigns on the ground and practice self-governance, so it is not desirable to demean it," and added that "there is an element of deliberate intent from the days of the old authoritarian regime, when local governments were all but abolished."

In response, Interior and Safety Minister Yun said he would "henceforth use the term local government and work to usher in an era of resident sovereignty at the local level."

However, no unified government-wide terminology guideline has yet been established. An official at one central ministry said no directive had come down from the government level, explaining that documents continue to use "local autonomous entity" in accordance with existing laws and regulations, while the use of "local government" is encouraged as a general, informal term.

A unified government-wide guideline would spare officials the need to deliberate over terminology. Asked again why the two terms continue to be used interchangeably, the official's answer was straightforward: changing the term formally is a matter for constitutional amendment.

Indeed, Chapter 8 of the Constitution, on local autonomy, sets out the powers and types of local autonomous entities in Article 117 and their organization and operation in Article 118. Because the current Constitution explicitly designates local autonomous entities as the bodies responsible for local governance, the government cannot unilaterally change the name across the board without amending the relevant laws and institutional framework.

Ultimately, the difference between "local government" and "local autonomous entity" is not merely a matter of wording. One emphasizes the character of a governing body on par with the central government; the other underscores the institutional nature of an organization whose structure and authority are defined by law.

Changing a single word will not, by itself, translate directly into a meaningful strengthening of decentralization. But what something is called is bound up with how it is perceived and what kind of relationship is envisioned. In that sense, the proposal to call local autonomous entities "local governments" carries significance beyond a simple name change.

The Lee Jae Myung administration is pursuing the elevation of Sejong to an administrative capital as part of its "five poles, three special zones" vision. Whether it will come to resemble Washington, D.C., or Australia's Canberra remains, in the government's own words, undecided.

A government that emphasizes decentralization, however, needs to reflect that perspective consistently in its terminology as well. Rather than allowing the legal designation and the administrative usage to diverge and coexist in confusion, a broader social discussion about how to define the authority and standing of local entities should ultimately bring the terminology in line with the direction the country intends to take.

President Lee Jae Myung speaks at a Cabinet meeting held at Cheong Wa Dae on Sept. 1. [Yonhap]

thlee@heraldcorp.com