[Provided by North Gyeongsang Provincial Council]
[Provided by North Gyeongsang Provincial Council]

The North Gyeongsang Provincial Council's special committee on the Daegu-North Gyeongsang administrative merger said effective policies — including genuine autonomy and balanced regional development — are needed to make the integration work.

According to the provincial council, the special committee reviewed the merger's progress Thursday during the 366th regular session, receiving a briefing from the Daegu-North Gyeongsang Integration Promotion Team and examining key issues including the substantive transfer of authority and measures to ensure balanced development across the region.

Committee member Lee Dong-eop said all efforts should be focused on securing smooth cooperation with the National Assembly to bring the special merger bill — currently pending before the Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee — to a full floor vote as soon as possible.

Member Kim Su-mun said stable fiscal support from the central government must be secured first to ensure the merger delivers real results.

Member Im Mu-seok raised concerns about potential side effects, citing past cases of city-county mergers where conflicts and difficulties have persisted for years. He warned that if detailed consultations and advance coordination are insufficient, the Daegu-North Gyeongsang merger could face similar problems.

Member Choi Deok-gyu said the committee must examine any instances where authority provisions in the special bill were deleted or reduced, and carefully compare the level of powers granted in the South Jeolla-Gwangju merger with those in the Daegu-North Gyeongsang special bill.

Member Kim Jae-hwan conveyed the concerns of communities in the northern part of North Gyeongsang Province, saying clear criteria must first be established for key issues such as the location of the integrated administrative office and council. He added that a concrete blueprint for the co-development of the northern region should be presented early to build broader public consensus among provincial residents.

Member Kim Jae-jun, drawing on examples of post-merger conflicts in other regions, called on the committee to work with Daegu in advance to carefully coordinate all tasks expected to arise after integration, and to prepare a preemptive roadmap that would allow the council and the city to respond jointly to anticipated problems.

Lee Chun-woo, chair of the special committee on the Daegu-North Gyeongsang administrative merger, said the integration is a critical undertaking on which the region's future depends. "We need to accurately identify why the special bill is currently stalled in the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee, and again carefully examine how to build consensus among the 22 cities and counties of North Gyeongsang Province and Daegu, as well as measures for the development of the northern region," he said.


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