Busan City and South Gyeongsang Province said they will push for an administrative merger in 2028 through a residents' referendum this year. However, the two local governments effectively rejected the central government's recently proposed 20 trillion won support plan.
Busan Mayor Park Heong-joon and South Gyeongsang Governor Park Wan-su held a joint briefing on the morning of the 28th at the Dongwon Global Terminal in Busan New Port and announced a "phased plan for the Busan–South Gyeongsang administrative merger."
According to the roadmap the two presented that day, a residents' referendum will be held this year for city and provincial residents regarding the administrative merger. This will proceed after a special bill on the administrative merger is prepared. They said, "In a survey conducted by the Public Debate Committee last year, 81.1% of city and provincial residents said the decision on administrative merger should be made through a residents' referendum, not by a vote of the city and provincial councils," adding, "We will first prepare a special bill that includes the authority and responsibility of the integrated autonomous body, its status and name, and the location of its government building."
They added, "Once a special bill premised on the central government's consent is completed, we will go through sufficient explanation and public debate," and said, "With city and provincial residents understanding the direction and necessity of integration, we will, within 2026, propose a residents' referendum to the government under Article 8 of the Residents' Referendum Act to determine the intent of South Gyeongsang and Busan."
However, they voiced opposition to the government's plan to provide "20 trillion won over four years" to local governments that merge administratively. They said, "A temporary four-year fiscal support program is far too short in duration and small in scale to back the mid- to long-term restructuring of metropolitan local governments," adding, "There is also no concrete plan for how the government would immediately secure the funding."
They went on to say, "The ratio of national taxes to local government tax should be improved to at least 6:4." Through this, the integrated autonomous body could permanently secure more than about 7.7 trillion won in resources annually based on the 2024 fiscal year. This would be a stable source of funding as long as the integrated autonomous body exists.
Both sides also proposed an "emergency joint meeting" involving the heads of eight cities and provinces nationwide that are pursuing administrative mergers. Since administrative mergers require the enactment of related laws, including a special law, they suggested using the meeting to coordinate concrete provisions to be included in the bill and submit it jointly.