[Anchor]
Following the launch in January of last year of the Chungcheong Regional Alliance—a special local government uniting North Chungcheong Province, Daejeon, Sejong, and South Chungcheong Province—the heads of the four municipal and provincial governments held their very first council meeting. The new leaders of the 9th popular election term gathered to form a consensus on jointly responding to key issues in the Chungcheong region, including the government's "five-pole, three-special" policy and the establishment of an ultra-regional transportation network.
CJB reporter Park Eon has the story.
[Reporter]
The heads of the four municipal and provincial governments in the Chungcheong region, including Governor Shin Yong-han, gathered in one place.
This marks the first official council meeting of the Chungcheong Regional Alliance since its launch last year, signaling the full-scale rollout of policy coordination on pending issues that had been delayed due to local election discussions and administrative integration debates.
The new leaders of the 9th popular election term have put forward a total of six joint tasks.
They agreed to pool their efforts for a joint response across the Chungcheong region to the government's three major megaprojects and the "five-pole, three-special" policy, while also pushing to reflect ultra-regional road and railway projects in national plans and enacting a special act for the Chungcheong Regional Alliance.
[Park Su-hyun / Head of the Chungcheong Regional Alliance (Governor of South Chungcheong Province) : To ensure that today's agreement does not remain merely on paper, as the head of the alliance, I will thoroughly monitor the implementation progress to the end and continuously convey our stance to the government and the National Assembly.]
At the core of these efforts is the budget allocation standard under the government's "five-pole, three-special" policy.
The Chungcheong region is grouped as a single zone comprising four local governments: North Chungcheong Province, Daejeon, Sejong, and South Chungcheong Province.
Deeming that uniform budget distribution by region could put the Chungcheong area at a disadvantage, the Chungcheong Regional Alliance has decided to petition the government to establish differentiated allocation criteria that reflect factors such as population, area, and the number of participating cities and provinces.
North Chungcheong Province's road and railway issues have also been included in the joint regional projects.
The four cities and provinces agreed to jointly petition for the inclusion of 10 projects in national plans: three road projects, including the Chungcheong Region's 2nd Outer Ring Expressway and the Daejeon-Goesan-Jecheon Expressway, and seven railway projects, including the extension of the Chungcheong Metropolitan Train Express (CTX) to Jeungpyeong and the Cheongju Airport-Sintanjin line.
[Shin Yong-han / Governor of North Chungcheong Province : Cheongju Airport's private runway is currently growing explosively, with annual passenger numbers exceeding 5 million to the point where capacity is becoming constrained. This is not just an issue for North Chungcheong Province alone; it affects the entire surrounding Chungcheong area, and there are many such matters that we must address together.]
Plans also include improving the mandatory local talent hiring system at relocated public institutions to boost job opportunities for young people in the Chungcheong region, as well as pursuing the establishment of a unified headquarters for five power generation public enterprises—including Korea Midland Power in Boryeong and Korea Western Power in Taean—within South Chungcheong Province.
At the subsequent Chungcheong Future Economy Forum, a joint declaration on an ultra-regional economic alliance was announced to bind the Chungcheong region into a single economic bloc.
Beginning with this first official council meeting, attention is focused on how effectively the Chungcheong Regional Alliance will be able to reflect the unified voice of the four cities and provinces in government policies and budgets.
(Photo: Song Shin-ui, CJB)
Park Eon, CJB
※
Copying, redistribution, and unauthorized use in AI training are strictly prohibited.