Provincial government system to be overhauled

The government and political parties tentatively agreed yesterday to overhaul the nation`s provincial government system, which they said was the cause of miscommunication between local governments because of its complexity.

The current nine "provinces" will be phased out by 2010 and about 60 new metropolitan cities with a population of less than 1 million will be created.

Each metropolitan district will have only one subordinate administrative office, simplifying a web of small-size administrative entities below the provincial level governments.

The provisional agreement was made at a policy coordination meeting between the government and the rival political parties. Government Administration and Home Affairs Minister Oh Young-kyo, ruling Uri Party policymaker Rep. Won Hye-young, and main opposition Grand National Party policymaker Rep. Maeng Hyung-kyu, also participated in the discussion.

"We have agreed that the current administration system is inefficient and needs to be reformed," Rep. Huh Tae-yeol told reporters after the meeting.

Currently, the country has nine provincial governments across the nation. Each is composed of smaller local administrations of counties, which respectively have subordinate level wards and smaller town administrative districts.

The new administrative districts are expected to take effect in 2010 in line with local elections across the country.

But the full implementation of the system remains uncertain, as changes to administrative districts could lead to changes in electoral constituencies, affecting some lawmakers or local government council members` chances of being re-elected.

(smjoo@heraldm.com)



By Joo Sang-min