South Korea stands at a crossroads as it grapples with the long-term consequences of its centralized development model. For decades, the capital city of Seoul and its surrounding areas have absorbed a disproportionate share of the nation’s resources, population, and economic activity, leaving the rest of the country struggling to keep pace. Faced with population decline, economic stagnation, and the threat of regional extinction, South Korea’s local governments are exploring administrative integration as a bold response to these challenges. But experts argue that true progress requires more than just merging boundaries—it demands a shift toward state-like decentralization to empower local regions with the autonomy to chart their own futures.
Seoul, a metropolis of nearly 10 million people, anchors a broader capital region that houses almost half of South Korea’s population. This dominance is both a strength and a liability. While Seoul serves as the country’s political, cultural, and economic hub, its centralization has created stark disparities between the capital and other regions. Investment, infrastructure, and job opportunities flow disproportionately to Seoul, while smaller cities and rural areas struggle to retain young people and sustain their economies.
This imbalance has led to a demographic crisis in non-capital regions, with declining birth rates and accelerating migration to Seoul further eroding local vitality. Towns and cities once central to South Korea’s industrial and agricultural strength now face depopulation and economic marginalization, deepening concerns over the long-term sustainability of a Seoul-centric model.
Regional Integration as a Countermeasure
In response, several regions have launched initiatives to consolidate administrative functions and pool resources, aiming to create larger, more competitive governance units. These efforts reflect a growing recognition that fragmented governance structures are ill-suited to address the complex challenges of modern development.
Busan-Gyeongnam Integration: Building an Economic Powerhouse
The integration of Busan and Gyeongnam stands as one of the most ambitious efforts to reshape South Korea’s regional dynamics. By merging Busan’s strategic strengths in maritime logistics with Gyeongnam’s robust industrial foundation, the proposed integration seeks to establish a unified economic entity capable of competing with the Seoul metropolitan region.
Busan, home to one of the world’s busiest ports, serves as a critical hub for global trade and logistics. Gyeongnam, on the other hand, is a leading center for manufacturing, particularly in industries like aerospace, shipbuilding, and machinery. Together, these regions have the potential to create a synergistic economic zone that attracts investment, fosters innovation, and stimulates growth across various sectors.
Planners envision a seamless integration of infrastructure to support this vision. An interconnected transportation network would enhance mobility and logistical efficiency, while joint industrial policies could drive collaborative projects and streamline regional development strategies. By aligning their resources and capabilities, Busan and Gyeongnam aim to become a formidable economic bloc, not only within South Korea but also on the global stage.
Daegu-Gyeongbuk Integration: Forging a Technological and Industrial Hub
Daegu and Gyeongbuk are pursuing administrative integration under the framework of the proposed “Daegu-Gyeongbuk Metropolitan City,” a vision designed to strengthen their collective economic competitiveness. Daegu, recognized for its burgeoning technological sector and innovation hubs, complements Gyeongbuk’s industrial prowess, which is rooted in its steel production and manufacturing industries.
This integration seeks to capitalize on the strengths of both regions to create a unified technological and industrial hub. The region’s leaders argue that merging administrative functions will eliminate redundancies, streamline governance, and provide a more cohesive strategy for attracting businesses and investment. The integration also aims to amplify the region’s voice in national decision-making, ensuring that it can better advocate for its unique needs and opportunities.
By leveraging Daegu’s expertise in smart technology and Gyeongbuk’s traditional industrial base, the region aspires to enhance its global competitiveness. This combination of technological innovation and industrial strength positions the Daegu-Gyeongbuk Metropolitan City as a key player in South Korea’s economic landscape.
Chungcheong Megalopolis Union: A Blueprint for Regional Cooperation
The Chungcheong provinces—comprising Daejeon, Sejong, Chungbuk, and Chungnam—have taken a pioneering step by forming the Chungcheong Megalopolis Union, South Korea’s first special local government. This innovative union represents a new model for regional governance, aimed at fostering collaboration and countering the economic dominance of the Seoul metropolitan area.
Headquartered in Sejong City, the union serves as a platform for coordinating policies across multiple domains, including transportation, education, and cultural development. The region benefits from the presence of Sejong, South Korea’s administrative capital, which provides a centralized location for decision-making and policy implementation.
The Chungcheong Megalopolis Union seeks to create a cohesive regional identity by linking the provinces through integrated infrastructure and shared development goals. Initiatives such as streamlined transportation networks and cultural exchange programs aim to enhance connectivity and economic activity across the region. This approach not only strengthens the Chungcheong provinces internally but also positions them as a counterweight to the economic pull of Seoul, demonstrating the potential of collaborative regional governance.
The Call for State-Like Decentralization: Empowering South Korea’s Regions
South Korea’s regional integration initiatives mark a significant step toward addressing the imbalance of Seoul-centric development, but their ultimate success requires more than redrawing administrative boundaries. Structural reforms that implement a state-like decentralization model are essential to achieving their full potential. Such a model would provide regions with legislative, financial, and administrative autonomy, enabling them to craft policies, manage resources, and address challenges tailored to their needs. Without such changes, local governments remain constrained by centralized oversight, limiting their ability to effect meaningful change.
Legislative Autonomy
Legislative authority is a cornerstone of state-like decentralization. Currently, South Korean local governments are limited to enacting ordinances that adhere to national laws, leaving little room for region-specific solutions. A decentralized model would expand the scope of legislative autonomy, allowing regions to enact regulations and policies that address their unique circumstances.
For instance, industrial hubs like Gyeongnam might benefit from specialized zoning laws that optimize factory placement, minimize environmental impacts, and improve logistics efficiency. Coastal provinces such as Busan and Gyeongnam, facing critical environmental challenges, could implement stringent marine ecosystem protections without waiting for national approval.
By expanding their ability to legislate independently, regions could respond more flexibly to local challenges and opportunities. This would bypass the lengthy and often restrictive processes of centralized governance, fostering innovation and enabling regions to act decisively while aligning with overarching national goals.
Fiscal Independence
One of the most pressing issues in South Korea’s local governance is the overwhelming reliance of regional governments on central transfers. Currently, approximately 80% of national taxes are controlled by the central government, leaving local governments to rely on limited budgets that restrict long-term planning. Decentralization must address this imbalance by granting regions greater control over financial resources.
Under a state-like model, regions could retain a larger share of taxes collected within their boundaries, such as income tax, corporate tax, or value-added tax. This would empower local administrations to invest in infrastructure, education, and public services without competing for central funding. Additionally, regions could be granted authority to levy localized taxes, such as property taxes or environmental impact fees, providing them with further financial independence.
Such fiscal autonomy would enable regions to pursue policies that attract businesses and investment, creating a self-reinforcing cycle of economic growth and enhanced public services. Over time, this model would reduce regional disparities and ensure that all parts of the country benefit from sustainable development.
Executive Power
Beyond legislative and financial autonomy, regional governments must have control over key executive functions. Currently, critical policy areas such as transportation, housing, and economic development are subject to central government oversight, creating delays and inefficiencies.
Decentralized executive authority would allow regions to manage these domains independently, aligning policies with local priorities. For example, a region like Daegu-Gyeongbuk could develop a high-speed rail network connecting its cities, enhancing mobility for workers and goods without navigating bureaucratic obstacles. Similarly, housing policies could be tailored to specific challenges, such as promoting sustainable construction in rapidly urbanizing areas like Busan or revitalizing rural communities in Gyeongbuk.
In economic development, regions could establish innovation hubs, incentivize startups, or create industry-specific zones tailored to local strengths. These capabilities would not only reduce inefficiencies but also foster a dynamic environment for growth and innovation, positioning regions as competitive players both nationally and globally.
Why State-Like Decentralization is Critical for South Korea
Decentralization is not merely a tool for empowering regional governments—it is a necessity for ensuring balanced national development. Without significant autonomy, local governments are limited by central directives that may not fully align with their needs. This results in delayed decision-making, underutilized resources, and missed opportunities for regional growth.
Countries like Germany and the United States demonstrate how decentralization can drive prosperity. In Germany, federal states (Länder) possess substantial control over education, policing, and infrastructure, enabling them to tailor policies to their unique contexts. Similarly, U.S. states wield broad legislative, financial, and administrative authority, allowing them to address diverse challenges across a vast and varied nation.
South Korea’s regions—such as Busan-Gyeongnam, Daegu-Gyeongbuk, and Chungcheong—stand to benefit immensely from adopting a similar model. A shift from the current top-down governance structure to a bottom-up approach would enable these regions to harness their unique strengths, foster innovation, and ensure equitable resource distribution across the nation.
A Blueprint for Decentralized Prosperity
The call for state-like decentralization in South Korea reflects the limitations of its current governance model. Legislative autonomy would provide the flexibility needed to craft region-specific solutions; fiscal independence would create a sustainable financial foundation; and executive power would empower regions to address challenges effectively and efficiently.
Adopting such a model would not only strengthen South Korea’s regions but also create a more balanced and resilient nation. By embracing decentralization, South Korea can break free from its Seoul-centric paradigm and build a future where every region thrives as a vital contributor to the nation’s collective success. Achieving this vision requires bold leadership, widespread public support, and a commitment to reimagining governance for the modern era.
The Risks of Inaction
The failure to address South Korea’s structural imbalance risks deepening the economic and social divide between the capital and non-capital regions. Without meaningful decentralization, experts warn that regional integration efforts could amount to little more than symbolic gestures. Redrawing administrative boundaries without granting substantive legislative, financial, and administrative autonomy would leave the core issues of regional decline unresolved.
Such inaction would perpetuate the cycle of migration to Seoul, further concentrating resources and opportunities in the capital region. For smaller cities and towns, this means an ever-decreasing tax base, making it increasingly difficult to fund basic services like education, healthcare, and infrastructure maintenance. The economic strain is compounded by the loss of cultural and historical assets unique to these regions, which are often neglected as depopulation accelerates. Over time, these areas risk becoming economically and culturally stagnant, with diminishing prospects for recovery.
At the heart of this issue lies the human cost. As young people leave for Seoul in search of better opportunities, rural areas are left with aging populations and dwindling communities. Schools close, public transportation becomes unsustainable, and healthcare services become harder to access. This not only erodes the quality of life for remaining residents but also undermines the social fabric of these regions. Without bold action, South Korea could face a future where large swaths of the country are effectively abandoned, with development concentrated in an overburdened capital region.
South Korea’s regional integration efforts signal an important acknowledgment of the limitations inherent in a Seoul-centric development model. Yet, integration alone cannot reverse decades of centralization. Without genuine decentralization that grants regions the autonomy to govern effectively, these initiatives risk falling short, leaving non-capital regions to face continued decline.
The stakes are high. A failure to act decisively will exacerbate existing disparities, erode regional identities, and compromise the nation’s long-term stability. Conversely, embracing a state-like decentralization model could usher in a new era of balanced development, where every corner of South Korea contributes to and benefits from the nation’s collective success.
By shifting power and resources to local governments, South Korea can foster innovation, reduce disparities, and ensure that no region is left behind. This vision requires bold leadership, a commitment to structural reform, and the active engagement of citizens. Only by empowering its regions can South Korea truly achieve its potential as a resilient, equitable, and forward-thinking nation.
