Governor Lee Cheol-woo of North Gyeongsang Province and Acting Mayor Kim Jeong-gi of Daegu agreed on the 20th to pursue the integration of Daegu and North Gyeongsang and the election of a unified head of the local government. As they move to formally proceed with related procedures, they decided to keep the existing government office buildings in both regions as they are.
Lee and Kim met at the provincial government office that afternoon, discussed the direction, timeline and procedures for pursuing administrative integration, and then issued a statement.
Lee and Kim said, "Today North Gyeongsang Province and Daegu held in-depth consultations on whether to pursue integration and on its direction," adding, "As a result, we once again agreed on and confirmed the need for integration and its direction, and we agreed to move forward in earnest with integration procedures in connection with Daejeon–South Chungcheong and Gwangju–South Jeolla."
They continued, "First, we will consult sufficiently with the provincial council and seek a council resolution to pursue integration," adding, "At the same time, we will gather more opinions from residents and work closely with the National Assembly to push ahead with the subsequent integration procedures swiftly and responsibly."
Lee and Kim also said regarding the location of the unified government office, "We will keep the two current government office buildings as they are." On the unified city–province leader's workplace, they said, "This is an issue over which opinions are sharply divided in other regions as well," adding, "In the case of Daejeon–South Chungcheong, a plan emerged for the unified leader to work as one person in each of the two regions, and we believe this will be specified in the government's special act."
Lee and Kim said, "For integration to truly succeed, concrete measures for balanced development of underdeveloped regions at the national level must be prepared, and bold devolution of authority by the central government must take place," adding, "Through this, the special integrated city should smoothly perform the overarching coordination functions for economic and industrial promotion, balanced development and metropolitan administration, and at the same time, the authority and autonomy of cities, counties and districts should be expanded."
Accordingly, discussions on the integration of Daegu and North Gyeongsang, which had been halted for a time, are expected to gain momentum. Previously, Daegu and North Gyeongsang had pursued administrative integration in 2020 and 2024, but it did not take shape, due to failure to narrow differences over the location of the unified government office, the distribution of administrative authority, and the phased approach.
However, the situation changed rapidly after the government announced plans to provide 20 trillion won each (5 trillion won annually) to city–provinces pursuing administrative integration such as Gwangju–South Jeolla and Daejeon–South Chungcheong.
Regarding this government support, Lee and Kim said, "The direction of integration and the support details generally align with the framework that Daegu and North Gyeongsang have prepared together and meet, to some extent, the great hopes and expectations for integration," adding, "As Daegu and North Gyeongsang prepared first, we will confidently take the lead in the national grand integration."
They continued, "Since 2020, Daegu and North Gyeongsang were the first in the country to actively begin discussions on integration, and only with Daegu and North Gyeongsang's participation can national administrative integration be properly carried forward," adding, "Through many public discussions, we have established the need for and direction of integration, and we have continued the discussions without interruption through the pandemic period."