Suwon to Host Forum on Special Metropolitan Status Law Results and Challenges on November 17

Suwon Special Metropolitan City (Mayor Lee Jae-jun) will host the 'Special Metropolitan City Development Forum Following Enactment of the Special Law on Special Metropolitan City Support' at 2:40 p.m. on the 17th at Suwon Convention Center to explore directions for special metropolitan city development.

The forum is hosted by Suwon City and the Suwon City Council for Local Autonomy and Decentralization, and organized by the Korean Local Government Association. It will examine the limitations of the special law and directions for revision, and explore institutional improvement measures necessary for special metropolitan cities to take root.

Attendees include Lee Hyang-soo, president of the Korean Local Government Association; Koo Gyun-chul, chairman of the Suwon City Council for Local Autonomy and Decentralization; Kim Sung-jin, director of the Suwon Policy Research Institute; Kwon Hyuk-sung, chairman of the Special Metropolitan City Development Suwon Citizens Forum; representatives from the Special Metropolitan Cities Mayors' Council, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, and the Regional Era Committee.

The forum will proceed with an opening ceremony, keynote presentations and comprehensive discussion, and a question-and-answer session. Choi Ji-min, senior research fellow at the Korea Institute of Local Administration (member of the Regional Era Committee), will present on 'The Position and Standard Redesign Issues of Special Metropolitan Cities as National Balanced Development Hubs in the Era of Five Poles and Three Special Cities'.

Park Jin-woo, research fellow at the Suwon Policy Research Institute, will follow with remarks on 'Beyond Administrative Special Measures to Substantive Decentralization—Limitations and Direction for Revision of the Special Law on Special Metropolitan City Support'.

The comprehensive discussion, chaired by Ha Hye-soo, professor at the Department of Public Administration at Kyungpook National University, will feature as panelists Cho Won-hyuk, professor at Ewha Womans University; Ha Hye-young, senior research specialist at the National Assembly Research Service; Cho Sung-ho, member of the Suwon City Council for Local Autonomy and Decentralization; and Jeong Chan-hyung, division chief of the Local Autonomy Support Division at the Ministry of the Interior and Safety.

A Suwon City official stated, "As special metropolitan cities have now established an institutional foundation through the enactment of the Special Law on Special Metropolitan City Support, this is the time to consider how to develop its contents further. We will actively utilize the opinions of experts in devising plans for special metropolitan city development."