From Administrator to Politician... Light and Shadow of Vice City/County Administrator Posts

For senior officials in Gyeonggi Province, the position of vice city/county administrator has been far more than a routine job rotation. Serving as administrative "No. 2" in a region and then challenging the position of mayor or county magistrate in their own districts, some have expanded their spheres of activity to presidential races and central politics following connections formed in provincial administration, creating a pattern of using the position as a stepping stone for subsequent political careers.

According to Gyeonggi Province and other sources on the 6th, at least 15 individuals have served as vice mayors or vice county magistrates and subsequently run for mayor or county magistrate elections in the regions where they worked: Kim Ki-se, Kim Kyung-hee, Kim Dong-geun, Park Jung-o, Seo Gang-ho, Yun Myung-no, Lee Dae-jik, Lee In-jae, Lee Pil-un, Im Chung-bin, Jo Byung-don, Choi Seung-dae, Choi Won-yong, Choi Hyun-deok, and Hwang Sung-tae.

The most recent case is Pyeongtaek Mayor Choi Won-yong.

Mayor Choi Won-yong served as director of the Planning and Coordination Office under Governor Lee Jae-myung before passing through posts as Pyeongtaek vice mayor and head of the Gyeonggi Economic Freedom Zone Authority.

In 2025, with approximately two years of his mandatory retirement age remaining, he requested early retirement, publicly stating his intention to support the presidential campaign of Democratic Party candidate Lee Jae-myung in his hometown of Pyeongtaek.

Subsequently, upon entering the Pyeongtaek mayoral race, he stated, "I learned how to work in coordination with President Lee Jae-myung and Gyeonggi Provincial Office, and I learned politics," directly linking his provincial administration experience to his political career. He was elected Pyeongtaek mayor in this year's June 3 local elections.

Namyangju Mayor Choi Hyun-deok is another case of transition from vice administrator to local politics.

Mayor Choi Hyun-deok worked as Namyangju vice mayor in 2017 and took early retirement at the end of that year to declare his candidacy for Namyangju mayor. At the time, he had nine years remaining until mandatory retirement. Subsequently, he served as secretary of the Safety and Administration Division of the 2018 Lee Jae-myung Gyeonggi Governor transition committee and engaged in political activities, being elected Namyangju mayor this year.

This represents a case where vice administrator experience became the starting point for local politics, with connections formed in provincial administration again becoming political networks.

This flow is related to the unique characteristics of vice administrator appointments.

Under the Local Government Act, the authority to appoint vice mayors and vice county magistrates rests with the mayor or county magistrate. Vice mayors and vice county magistrates are filled by general-track local civil servants appointed by mayors or county magistrates as stipulated by law.

However, in the Gyeonggi region, a long-standing pattern of personnel exchange has occurred in which the province sends Grade 2-4 senior officials from the provincial office to positions as vice administrators following consultation between the province and cities/counties.

Separate from legal appointment authority, the province's personnel decisions have in fact wielded significant influence over which official moves to which city or county as vice administrator.

The current situation exemplifies this clearly.

After the province postponed vice administrator and bureau/division director-level personnel reshuffles originally scheduled for August-September to January 2027, citing organizational restructuring, seven vice administrator positions in Seongnam, Siheung, Gwangju, Icheon, Yangju, Pocheon and Gapyeong County have been left vacant.

Legally, the respective mayors or county magistrates can appoint directly, but to date none have undertaken independent appointments. Cities and counties are requesting prompt personnel action from the province and awaiting the next provincial personnel announcement.

If those scheduled for end-of-year retirement materialize, the list of targets for vice administrator changes could expand further.

This is why the January personnel announcement next year involves more than simply filling vacant positions.

Vice mayors and vice county magistrates support the top administrator just below them, handling organization and budget as well as major issues including urban planning, development, transportation, and welfare. The Local Government Act also stipulates that vice administrators assist the top administrator in overall affairs and direct and supervise subordinate staff.

For provincial office senior officials, it is an opportunity to directly experience the administrative structure and issues of a specific region and to access regional political figures, administrative organizations, and major institutions.

If considering elective office after retirement, which city or county's vice administrator position one assumes is not unrelated to one's next career moves.

For the provincial governor, the significance of vice administrator personnel decisions is substantial.

If senior officials who have shared provincial governance philosophy and policies work in cities and counties and then advance to elected positions, they can serve as connecting links for policy cooperation between the province and the relevant local government. Politically, having officials with whom trust has been built during provincial administration active in various regions can become a human network available for future political pursuits.

In fact, there are cases where personal connections formed in provincial administration have later been recombined in presidential campaign organizations.

When former Gyeonggi Governor Kim Moon-soo ran in the 2025 presidential election, Assemblyman Park Soo-young, who served as administration vice governor during Kim's tenure as provincial governor, took on the role of policy director of the campaign headquarters. Media at the time analyzed that so-called "Gyeonggi figures"—officials who worked together during Kim's time as provincial governor—were positioned as the core of his presidential organization.

There is no evidence that vice administrator or provincial office senior official appointments have been made with the specific purpose of cultivating future political allies. However, given that actual instances exist of trust relationships built during provincial administration being reconnected in local and central politics, it is difficult to completely separate the political ripple effects of such personnel decisions.

In the careers of former vice administrators, the pattern of local administrative experience translating into political assets has repeatedly occurred.

In Yangju, two former vice county magistrates have successively become top administrators.

Former County Magistrate Yun Myung-no, after serving as Yangju vice county magistrate, was elected to the first competitive Yangju county magistrate race in 1995 and was reelected. Former Mayor Im Chung-bin, also a Yangju vice county magistrate, defeated Yun in 2002 and was elected county magistrate, subsequently serving as Yangju mayor after the city's elevation from county status.

Icheon is the same.

Former Mayor Jo Byung-don, an Icheon vice mayor, was elected mayor in 2006 and served three terms, and former Mayor Kim Kyung-hee was also elected mayor in 2022 after serving as Icheon vice mayor.

Former Mayor Lee Pil-un, an Anyang vice mayor, ascended to Anyang mayor through a special election in 2007, and former Mayor Lee In-jae, who served as Paju vice mayor, was elected Paju mayor in 2010. In the case of former Mayor Lee, his past experience as Paju vice mayor was cited as background for his display of confidence in Paju municipal governance following his election.

Mayor Kim Dong-geun, having also passed through the experience of serving as Uijeongbu vice mayor, challenged the Uijeongbu mayoral race in 2018 and was elected in 2022. In the 2022 election as well, he highlighted his experience in grasping local issues while serving as vice mayor as a strength.

Regardless of electoral success, not a few officials have chosen regions where they served as vice administrators as their political stage.

Former Seongnam Vice Mayor Park Jung-o ran for Seongnam mayor; former Yongin Vice Mayors Choi Seung-dae and Hwang Sung-tae challenged the Yongin mayoral race. Former Pyeongtaek Vice Mayor Seo Gang-ho, former Yeoju Vice Mayor Lee Dae-jik, and former Gwacheon Vice Mayor Kim Ki-se each entered mayoral elections in their respective regions where they worked.

Of course, vice administrator experience does not guarantee political success. There are cases where officials have lost party primary contests or been defeated in general elections.

Moreover, based solely on these cases, one cannot definitively assert that the province sent specific senior officials to vice administrator positions with future political advancement in mind.

Nevertheless, it is confirmed that vice administrator personnel decisions, through which the province has wielded substantial influence, have provided senior officials opportunities to build administrative experience and human networks in specific regions, with those credentials being utilized as assets in subsequent challenges for elected positions in the relevant regions, creating a repeated pattern.

For the provincial governor, it becomes a human foundation for connecting cities and counties with provincial administration; for senior officials, it can be a position that broadens options for next career moves.

The current situation features seven vacant vice administrator posts with additional personnel change needs anticipated.

This is why who moves to which city·county as the provincial office's "2nd in command" in January next year carries significance beyond a simple senior official position transfer.