Gyeonggi Province-Provincial Assembly 'Exclusive Communication Channel' Likely to Disappear… 'Governance Through Cooperation' Tested Amid Fiscal Crisis

Gyeonggi Province is confirmed to be reviewing a direction not to appoint a Chief of Governance Through Cooperation, a position that has served as a communication channel with the Gyeonggi Provincial Assembly.

According to Gyeonggi Province and others on the 25th, the province appointed Political Affairs Chief Lee Gyu-jin, Spokesperson Hong Eun-gwang, and Publicity Planning Director Lee Won-gu on the 24th, but did not appoint a Chief of Governance Through Cooperation.

While the Political Affairs Chief and the Chief of Governance Through Cooperation are similar in that they coordinate relationships with the political sphere, their primary communication targets differ. The Political Affairs Chief has mainly handled external political matters such as the National Assembly and political parties, while the Chief of Governance Through Cooperation has primarily been responsible for coordinating pending issues with the Gyeonggi Provincial Assembly.

The province views overlapping duties and organizational scale as major criteria for deciding whether to appoint a Chief of Governance Through Cooperation.

Provincial Spokesperson Hong Eun-gwang stated, "While the Chief of Governance Through Cooperation and the Political Affairs Chief could divide their areas between the National Assembly and the provincial assembly, their basic nature is the same, creating overlapping areas, and we are also considering streamlining the organization," and added, "While a final decision has not been made on whether to make the appointment, realistically speaking, the likelihood of not appointing is high."

If the Chief of Governance Through Cooperation position is not separately established, communication work with the provincial assembly is expected to be handled by the Political Affairs Chief on an integrated basis.

On the 29th of last month, Governor Choo Mi-ae emphasized continuous communication with the provincial assembly at the '9th Civilian Government Gyeonggi Province-Gyeonggi Provincial Assembly Meeting' with Provincial Assembly Speaker Nam Jong-seop and others.

In the operational report submitted by the province to the provincial assembly, 'establishing and operating a standing communication mechanism between the province and provincial assembly' was presented as a key task to advance. The plan is to establish a consultative body to discuss budgets, ordinances, and civil livelihood issues, which will be operated from September onwards.

In particular, overcoming the fiscal crisis, which Governor Choo has made the top priority of the 9th civilian government term, makes coordination with the provincial assembly inevitable. This is because there will be a succession of pending matters requiring the provincial assembly's consent and cooperation, including a review of existing projects and budget restructuring, followed by supplementary budgets.

Governor Choo has also stated through her SNS that she will reorganize the budget focusing on essential expenditures, then explain and discuss it with the provincial assembly.

Within the provincial assembly, different perspectives exist regarding the necessity of the Chief of Governance Through Cooperation position.

Representative Member Bang Sung-hwan of the People Power Party at the provincial assembly stated, "If we said we would practice governance through cooperation, there must be someone to perform that role to enable substantive communication and coordination," and added, "If we acknowledge the necessity but actually do not have someone to perform the role, there is no choice but to harbor doubts about whether this is intended to be one-directional."

On the other hand, in the 12th provincial assembly, the Democratic Party holds 144 out of 167 total seats, which represents a different political environment from the 11th assembly, which had equal representation between ruling and opposition parties. Since both the governor and the provincial assembly's ruling party are from the Democratic Party, perspectives differ both inside and outside the provincial assembly regarding whether a cooperation structure of the same form as the 8th civilian government term is necessary.

One provincial assembly member who requested anonymity said, "In a crisis situation, conducting party-government consultations would be much more efficient than formal cooperation," and added, "Rather, streamlining the political affairs line can be viewed as a symbolic measure demonstrating the severity of the fiscal crisis."

However, there is also a view that since the executive branch and assembly have different roles, consolidating the assembly-dedicated communication channel into one is a separate matter.

Gyeonggi Provincial Assembly Speaker Nam Jong-seop stated, "Since the provincial assembly is very large, without a communication channel, different opinions would develop and the views themselves would inevitably clash, so entrusting only to the political affairs chief is risky," and added, "To communicate with the assembly, various channels must be opened; consolidating into a single channel is not appropriate."

The province takes the position that whether to appoint a Chief of Governance Through Cooperation and cooperation between the province and provincial assembly are separate matters.

First Vice Governor Kim Sung-joong said, "The provincial executive branch and provincial assembly are essentially inseparable, so will the purpose of governance through cooperation disappear?" and added, "Regarding the appointment of a Chief of Governance Through Cooperation, (Governor Choo, who has personnel authority) seems to be deliberating."