Ministry of Government Legislation rules Saemangeum reports go to local governments

On Apr. 27, the Ministry of Government Legislation said owners or managers in the Saemangeum project area must report appointments of information and communications facility maintenance managers to local government heads, not the Saemangeum Development Agency, according to a regulatory filing.

The interpretation answered a query from Gunsan, North Jeolla Province, about the reporting authority when an owner or manager appoints a maintenance manager. The question arose under the Information and Communications Construction Business Act and the Special Act on the Promotion and Support of the Saemangeum Project.

Under the communications construction law, owners or managers must appoint a maintenance manager for information and communications facilities, subject to standards set by presidential decree. The law requires reports of appointments, dismissals and prescribed changes without delay to special self-governing city mayors, special self-governing province governors, city mayors, county heads or district heads.

Saemangeum rules nonetheless give the agency chief certain functions ordinarily handled by provincial governors, education superintendents, mayors and county heads before the area's administrative boundaries are set. The special provision is intended to let the agency temporarily perform some local-government roles while the area's administrative boundaries remain unset.

Only pre-construction confirmations, pre-use inspections and submission of pre-use inspection status for information and communications construction are listed for the agency chief, not maintenance-manager appointment reports.

The ministry said the omission means the special provision does not apply in the Saemangeum project area, leaving the reporting duty with local government heads.

It said the agency's management of building drawings and basic data in the project area did not justify transferring reporting work for efficiency reasons.

Assigning the task to the agency without an explicit provision could undermine predictability over the authority responsible for handling notifications, the ministry said.