The party, government and presidential office will officially announce a plan on the 16th to integrate "South Chungcheong and Daejeon" and "Gwangju and South Jeolla." Before the June 3 local elections, the ruling camp is pushing a plan to create integrated local governments that combine the provinces and the metropolitan cities in the relevant regions into a single entity and to elect an integrated chief in the local elections. Administrative integration at the metropolitan local government level has long been discussed, but momentum is building as President Lee Jae-myung has put forward the "5 hubs, 3 specials" pledge.
According to political circles on the 14th, senior officials from the party, government and presidential office are set to meet on the morning of the 16th to finalize the integration plans for South Chungcheong–Daejeon and Gwangju–South Jeolla. Kim Min-seok, the prime minister, is then expected to personally make the official announcement on the South Chungcheong–Daejeon and Gwangju–South Jeolla integration and to explain government-level support measures.
A key official in the Democratic Party leadership said, "We can hold a high-level party–government–presidential meeting on administrative integration on the 16th," and added, "The goal is to pass the bills to support administrative integration before March."
Ahead of the party–government–presidential meeting, Prime Minister Kim Min-seok has been meeting in succession with Democratic Party lawmakers from South Chungcheong–Daejeon and Gwangju–South Jeolla to hear their views on integration. The meeting with ruling party lawmakers from South Chungcheong–Daejeon was held on the 13th. Hwang Myung-seon, a supreme council member who chairs the Democratic Party's Special Committee on Chungcheong Development, said, "South Chungcheong and Daejeon must build a growth model for balanced development together," and added, "We should focus on improving the lives of South Chungcheong and Daejeon residents."
On the 14th, Prime Minister Kim Min-seok met with Democratic Party lawmakers from Gwangju–South Jeolla. There, Kim said, "Public interest in administrative integration of metropolitan governments is rising significantly," adding, "It is a very meaningful shift toward region-led growth that the government seeks, not only in terms of strengthening local autonomy and decentralization."
Rep. Kim Won-i said, "I mainly talked about the need to establish a development plan for the Gwangju–South Jeolla area," and added, "I conveyed to the prime minister a request for a government-level development plan, and the government said it would support and reflect it through policy and the budget."