Prime Minister Kim Min-seok said regarding the issue of regional administrative consolidation, "Demand has grown compared with what we initially expected," and "we are running simulations on the fiscal support burden for this."
At a press briefing on the 2nd, Kim said, "When we announced an incentive plan centered on $20 trillion won in government support over four years for metropolitan city-province consolidation, we expected that it might be enough if Gwangju-South Jeolla and Daejeon-South Chungcheong did well," and "now, in effect, three bills have been introduced, including Daegu-North Gyeongsang."
He added, "As demand has emerged for metropolitan consolidation in three places, the question arises whether the central government and the overall budget structure can bear the resulting fiscal burden," and "we are conducting close simulations on this."
Kim said, "We will discuss together so that regions that have not submitted other bills, including Busan-South Gyeongsang, regions considering additional metropolitanization, or other regions pursuing independent development do not feel they are relatively disadvantaged."
Kim said, "The government has no intention of forcibly pushing or delaying metropolitan consolidation in any particular region," and "we will decide what the government should do while watching each region carry out substantive discussions."