Editorial Three-Month Vacancy in Deputy Chief Executive Posts: Citizens Bear the Full Brunt

Gyeonggi Province's number two position has been filled. Newly appointed Administrative Vice Governor Ha Jong-mok assumed office on the 28th and began official duties. However, on the same day, the deputy mayor and deputy county positions in seven cities and counties within the province—Seongnam, Siheung, Gwangju, Icheon, Yangju, Pocheon, and Gapyeong County—remain vacant for more than three months. While the provincial government is proceeding with personnel appointments, the administrative command centers in the frontline cities and counties remain empty. What must be questioned now is who is bearing the cost of this vacancy.

Gyeonggi Province and its cities and counties have operated personnel exchanges for decades, through which provincial-level executives have been transferred to deputy chief executive positions in cities and counties. This system has had its own rationale and utility. When seasoned administrators with experience across provincial affairs coordinate local administration, policy linkage between the metropolitan and municipal levels becomes smoother, and cities and counties gain a bridge to the provincial government regarding provincial fund procurement and metropolitan project consultation. The cities and counties have likewise structured their executive personnel management and organizational operations around this exchange framework. Regardless of who holds appointment authority by law, personnel exchange has functioned as a real administrative system connecting Gyeonggi Province and its 31 cities and counties over many years.

That system has now come to a halt. The province postponed executive personnel appointments, including deputy chief executives, to January of next year citing fiscal crisis response and organizational restructuring as reasons, and in tandem, the selection of deputy chief executives in cities and counties that operated in conjunction with provincial personnel appointments has also halted. When one gear stopped, the whole mechanism stopped with it.

The problem is that this vacancy does not end as mere inconvenience within provincial and municipal government. A deputy chief executive is a position that assists the chief executive and oversees city and county administration. They stand at the center of disaster and safety response, take charge of decision-making on major projects and interdepartmental coordination, operate personnel committees, and serve as a liaison channel for policy and budget consultations with Gyeonggi Province. In case of the chief executive's emergency, they assume authority. When this position is vacant, approvals are delayed, interdepartmental coordination falls behind, and consultations with the province become ineffective. Delays in administrative services and policy setbacks ultimately translate into harm to citizens. Furthermore, among the seven vacant posts, Gwangju, Icheon, and Yangju are places where chief executives changed in the June 3 local elections. The early phase of the new 9th term municipal government when the framework should be established lacks the operational command center for administration. Considering Suwon and other cities where deputy chief executives are approaching retirement, the vacancy could expand further.

One might counterargue, "Couldn't the mayors and county executives simply appoint them according to law?" However, reality is not so simple. In a personnel structure built over decades on the premise of exchange with the province, it is difficult for any city or county to abruptly switch to independent selection overnight. If filled through internal promotion, subsequent personnel movements must cascade, and the broader repercussions on cooperative relations with the province cannot be ignored. From the cities and counties' perspective, waiting is the only realistic option. Therefore, engaging in blame-shifting over whether Gyeonggi Province made a mistake or whether mayors and county executives failed to take decisive action is futile. Whether the personnel exchange practice itself is appropriate and whether it complies with local autonomy principles are matters that can be discussed carefully going forward. What is urgent now is not institutional debate but resolving the administrative vacancy that has already occurred.

Gyeonggi Province must not allow the vacancy of deputy chief executives in cities and counties to persist any longer under the pretext of internal organizational restructuring or its own personnel schedule. If maintaining the existing personnel exchange system, it is right to separate and promptly proceed with personnel consultation for deputy chief executives in cities and counties from the province's organizational restructuring schedule. The more the province uses fiscal crisis response as justification, the more this applies. When provincial and cities and counties must put their heads together over provincial funds and metropolitan projects, leaving the operational liaison position for those negotiations vacant makes no sense. If there is intention to change the system, one should do so after sufficient consultation and preparation of alternatives. Prolonging personnel appointments while shifting the burden to frontline cities and counties and citizens cannot be justified on any grounds.

First, Gyeonggi Province must stop neglecting the deputy chief executive vacancies and promptly proceed with personnel appointments. Administration cannot have a vacuum period, and the bill for that vacuum always comes to citizens.