Download Bringing Government Closer to People (Experience from Rep

Welcome to KRILA
Mr. Barry Kym McHugh
& His Delegation
Local Government
in Korea
Young-Hoon Ahn
In-Sung Kang
October 28th, 2008
Korea Research Institute
For Local Administration
(KRILA)
Contents
1 Overview of Korea
2 Decentralisation in Brief
3 Organisational Framework and Examples
4 Local Public Employment
5 Local Finance
Map of Korea (Rep. of)
• Nation-wide Area:
99,720 km2
(Year 2007)
Capital Seoul
and
Gyeonggi Province
Busan, 2nd Met. City
Population Concentration
In 1966
In 2005
History of Local Autonomy
• 1949: Adoption of the Local Autonomy Act
• 1961: Local Council suspended by the military
government
• 1987: Democracy movements in Korea
• 1991: Election for local council members revived
• 1995: Full-fledged elections for local government
Decentralisation in Brief
• Decentralisation began since 1991 and
deepened in 1995
– Korea had been considered a centralised State
before 1991 local election for local councils
– The local autonomy was reinvigorated since the
election of provincial governors and mayors in
1995
Decentralisation in Brief (Cont.)
• Local Government Structure
– A two-tier system consisting of the central,
provincial, and municipal levels
– The upper or regional level consists of
provinces(Do) and metropolitan cities(metropolitan
Si).
– The lower or basic local level is composed of
municipalities,
– such as municipal cities(Si), rural districts(Gun,
rural county) and autonomous urban districts(Gu,
located inside metropolitan cities)
Structural Tier
Central Government
Seoul
Metropolitan
City
Autonomous
District (25)
Metropolitan
City (6)
Autonomous
District (44)
County
(5)
Province
(8)
City
(76)
Jeju Special
Autonomous
Province (1)
County
(81)
Administra
-tive City(2)
Gu (26)
District
Dong
(522)
Dong
(692)
Eup
/Myeon
(10/36)
Eup/
Myeon/
Dong(81/
453/921)
Eup
/Myeon
(114/
712)
Eup/
Myeon/
Dong
(7/5/31)
Decentralisation in Brief (Cont.)
• Structural Characteristics
– All municipalities have administrative sub-levels,
Eup and Myeon in rural areas and Dong in urban
areas
– The metropolitan cities, including Seoul, have
districts with a municipal status, like the other
municipalities governed by elected mayors and
council members
– When a Eup’s population exceeds 50 000, it can
change its status to a city by the decree of the
Minister concerned and, with over one million
inhabitants, become a metropolitan city
Decentralisation in Brief (Cont.)
• Local elected councillors, mayors and governors
– Over 3,600 elected council members:
– 738 of upper-levels and 2 888 of lower-levels
– 230 mayors and 16 Metropolitan and provincial
executive presidents
– Serving on 246 regional and local selfgovernments, of which one municipality has in
average more than 200 000 inhabitants
Decentralisation in Brief (Cont.)
•Local civil servants
– Local government employs over 340 000 staff
– and spends more than 100 trillion Won (roughly
equivalent to 100 billion US dollars) a year
(currency value before credit crisis of Oct. 2008)
Some Characteristics
• Korea legislative framework is similar to the
Franco-Germanic style rather than the UK
– Korean local government benefits from the
Germanic principle of “self-administration”
(Selfbstvewaltung)
– The right to local autonomy as a general principle of
state organisation laid down in the Title VIII of the
Korean constitution
– It guarantees the institution of local councils (Article
118), stipulating the democratic and representative
nature of their governmental bodies
Some Characteristics (Cont.)
• Uniformity of institutional form as divided into the
Executive branch and the Council
• Division of responsibilities between Central and Local
– According to the official statistics of 2002 and updated in
2007, which was resulted from the 2-years research twice
conducted by the Krila
– Central government takes the final decision powers on
about 70% of the whole governmental functions,
– Whereas local governments take charge of more than 30%
of functions, together with 3 to 5 % of delegated functions
assigned by central government
LG’s Organisational Framework
• Local Council
– 4 years term of office by democratic ballot
– The regular session of each local council is
held twice each year
– Additional session will be prescribed by
each Municipal Ordinance and by the
chairman’s call as the extraordinary
session within fifteen days
LG’s Organisational Framework
• The Executive
– Mayors and Governors as for chief executive
of local government elected also for 4-years
term (limited to three terms at maximum)
– Vice-mayors and vice-governors originated
from civil servants and local officials are
nominated by the consent of central
government and his/her chief executive
Example of Administrative Structure
• The exemplary administrative structure of
Seoul Special City
– Seoul Metropolitan City’s organ is divided into the
executive branch, and the Seoul Metropolitan
Council as the legislative body
– Seoul is represented by 1 mayor and 3 vice
mayors (two for administrative affairs and one for
political affairs) and 106 council members
Seoul Metropolitan Government
Another Example of Administrative Structure
• Seocho-Gu, one of 25 autonomous districts
within the Seoul metropolitan city
– The Seocho-Gu office as autonomous Gu (District)
is headed also by directly elected Chief executive
– This district as basic municipality is engaged in the
following functions:
– civil affairs such as residence certification, seal
impression, disposal of refuse, and regional
parking problem like notification of resident first
parking system, etc.
Seocho-Gu Autonomous District
Local Public Employment
• Dual System: Central and Local (9 grades system)
– National public officials are recruited and paid by central government,
dealing with national administrative affairs
– Local public officials responsible for local administrative affairs are recruite
and paid by local governments (on the basis of upper-level)
– The total number of local public officials in each local government is
regulated by the bylaw based on criteria prescribed by a Presidential
Decree
– The Local Civil Service Act regulates the appointment, examination,
qualification, wages, services, guarantee of status, disciplinary sanction,
and educational training
– National public officials can be employed in local governments according t
the provisions of the law
– Those who are in fifth grade and higher are appointed by the President,
while those not exceeding sixth grade are appointed by the Minister of
Pubic Administration and Security (MOPAS)
Local Public Employment (Cont.)
• Classification of Local Public Officials
– According to the Local Government Civil Service Act, local public
officials are classified into career service and special-career service
officials
– Career service officials are employed based on their performance and
qualification, and their status is guaranteed by the Act
– Local public officials in general service field deal with administrative
affairs related to technology, research, and general pubic administration
– Specified service officials are, i.e., educational public officials, local firefighting officials, and other officials in charge of special duties
– Local public officials in technical field are involved in specific technical
and classified tasks by their skill
• Local Politicians classified as special-career
officials
– Locally elected officials are political special-career officials both
elected by the people and appointed with the consent of mayors
and governors and central government
– They are vice mayors and vice governors, secretaries general,
chiefs of subordinate administrative organizations
Local Finance
– The size of the local public sector represented
15.8% of the GDP ($787.5 billion in 2005)
– Local expenditures growing much faster than the
central government and doubled since 1985
– Of which, i.e., in 2007, local taxes account for
about one-third of the local governments revenue
(38.07 trillion Won)
Local Finance (Cont.)
• Local revenues:
– Local taxes, general grant, specific grant
(subsidies), fees and charges, and local
borrowings
• The ratio of Local v. National tax to GDP
Figure 1. The Ratio of Local & National Tax to GDP
25%
20%
3.6%
15%
2.0%
3.4%
•
4.4%
3.8%
Local Tax
National Tax
10%
14.1%
14.4%
14.2%
1985
1990
1995
16.1%
15.7%
2000
2005
5%
0%
Source: Korea National Statistical
Office DB (2007)
Breakdown of Local Revenue
– General grants for providing general running costs,
including the salary of local public officials,
– Earmarked grants for local developments
Total Revenue
₩ 124,966
(billion Won)
100%
Local Taxes
₩
43,549
35%
Fees and Charges
₩
30,100
24%
General Grant
₩
24,129
19%
Specific Grant
₩
23,689
19%
Borrowings and etc.
₩
3,497
3%
FY 2008 Budget (unit:billion Won)
Specific
Grant
(19%)
Borrowings
and etc.
(3%)
Local Taxes
(35%)
General Grant
(19%)
Fees and
Charges
(24%)