Interior ministry secures legal basis for binding local government pacts

The interior ministry said Thursday it has secured a legal foundation for binding cooperation projects between local governments through a revision of the Local Autonomy Act that passed the National Assembly. The updated law introduces a public agreement system designed to replace non-binding memorandums of understanding with enforceable contracts that require approval from local councils.

Minister Yoon Ho-joong stated that the legislative changes establish six key measures aimed at strengthening national-local collaboration and guaranteeing substantive autonomy for regional administrations. The new framework provides a stable legal basis for joint initiatives in urban planning, emergency medical services, and public transportation by mandating statutory procedures for signing and terminating these agreements.

The revision also overhauls the special local autonomous entity system, which currently allows multiple local governments to jointly manage wide-area affairs. While existing rules permitted only the delegation of state or provincial authority, the amended act now enables the full transfer of such powers to these special entities. This change supports ongoing projects like the Chungcheong Wide-Area Union, which involves four local governments including Daejeon and Sejong.

Under the new provisions, the central government is legally obligated to provide administrative and financial support whenever authority is delegated or transferred to a special local entity. The law further authorizes the dispatch of national civil servants to these bodies and establishes a legal basis for paying activity expenses to local council members serving within them.

For the first time, the roles, appointment processes, and duties of village heads and neighborhood chiefs will be codified directly in the Local Autonomy Act rather than lower-level enforcement decrees. This shift affects approximately 100,000 officials nationwide, including 38,090 village heads and 62,734 neighborhood chiefs as of 2025.

The legislation also clarifies the scope of local legislative power, preventing higher-level administrative rules from restricting matters already delegated by law. Additionally, the bill expands dispute resolution mechanisms by increasing the number of commissioners on central and administrative mediation committees and applying criminal code obligations regarding public officials to private sector members.

A legal basis for an electronic resident audit request system was newly established to address previous gaps where the service operated without specific statutory backing.