Residents of Inje-gun, Gangwon Province, wearing red headbands, staged a protest in front of the National Assembly in Yeouido.
Following a protest by some 3,000 residents in Inje this morning (27th), about 600 people traveled to Seoul in the afternoon to continue their protest in front of the National Assembly.
They are demanding the retraction of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety's designation of Inje-gun as a population-vibrant area and its classification into the second zone of preferential treatment for local regions this month.
County representatives, including Inje County Mayor Choi Sang-ki and Inje County Council Chairman Kim Do-hyung, even shaved their heads to protest against the government.
[Immediately halt the designation of Zone 2, which ignores the sacrifices of border areas! Halt it! Halt it! Halt it!]
The Ministry of the Interior and Safety stated that distance from Seoul, the degree of regional development, and the crisis of population decline were reflected when designating population-declining areas and classifying preferential treatment zones for local regions.
As a result, Inje-gun was excluded from areas of concern for population decline and classified as a "population-vibrant area."
In the local preferential treatment index as well, it was grouped into Zone 2 along with Chuncheon, Wonju, and others.
Inje-gun fiercely criticized the government's decision, pointing out that its population dropped by 1,529 from 32,165 at the end of 2021 to 30,636 as of September this year, and its birth rate also decreased by 30.4%, yet it was excluded from population-declining areas.
They raised their voices, emphasizing that while they have sacrificed regional development for decades for national security and the preservation of the natural environment, these sacrifices were not reflected in the Ministry's decision.
[Kim Do-hyung / Emergency Response Committee Chairman: This is a question of how the state responds to the decades we endured while trusting the nation. We did not come here to ask for special favors. We are asking you to include the reality that was left out of the evaluation.]
If the local preferential treatment index is applied this way starting next year, they could receive less support in various government projects, such as the issuance of local love gift certificates.
Consequently, Inje-gun expresses concern that support gaps could widen compared to other cities and counties across residents' lives and the local economy as a whole.
The Ministry of the Interior and Safety explained that Inje-gun was excluded from areas of concern for population decline and designated as a population-vibrant area because there are other regions experiencing much sharper population decreases.
The Ministry added that the classification of the local preferential treatment index has not yet been finalized, and a final decision will be made after gathering opinions from various sectors until November 2.
(Reported by Yun Nara | Video by Kim Hangyul | Video Editing: Kim Jong-tae | Produced by SBS Digital News)
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