National Association of Mayors and County/District Governors Holds Advisory Meeting for Welfare Grand Compromise Special Committee

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Seo Dong-young] The National Association of Mayors and County/District Governors held an advisory members' meeting of the Welfare Grand Compromise Special Committee at the association's conference room at 2 p.m. on the 22nd, discussing the committee's operations and future direction.

About 30 people attended, including Yeom Tae-young, Suwon Mayor and Chairperson of the National Association of Mayors and County/District Governors, as well as advisory members and working-level staff of the Welfare Grand Compromise Special Committee.

The meeting proceeded in a format in which, after an explanation of the committee's progress and an introduction of the welfare grand compromise plans and direction the committee will pursue going forward, advisory opinions were sought from the members.

The Welfare Grand Compromise Special Committee, formed in July, held a total of eight working-level meetings over about four months. Focusing on core tasks, it conducted three expert forums and a National Assembly debate. It also carried out a pilot project on the fact-finding survey of welfare programs targeting seven basic local governments, and held a debate on the issues surrounding the welfare grand compromise.

The advisory members also discussed the direction the Welfare Grand Compromise Special Committee should take going forward, refining the topics of role-sharing between the central and basic governments, between metropolitan and basic governments, and among basic governments.

Chairperson Yeom Tae-young said, "This is the right time for a welfare grand compromise to create a genuine 'welfare decentralization state' and a 'sustainable welfare system' based on the sympathy of the central government," adding, "The conclusions the advisory members contemplate and derive will become the path to the welfare grand compromise."

Meanwhile, 202 cities, counties, and districts—amounting to 90% of the nation's 226 basic local governments—are participating in the Welfare Grand Compromise Special Committee.