Inje County chief meets Interior and Safety Minister Yun Ho-jung, urges reclassification to Tier 4 under Local Preferential Index

【Financial News, Inje = Reporter Kim Gi-seop】Following a protest rally outside the National Assembly, Inje County met directly with the minister in charge and urged the government to move its Local Preferential Index classification from Tier 2, where it is grouped with Chuncheon and Wonju, to Tier 4.
According to Inje County, County Governor Choi Sang-gi met with Interior and Safety Minister Yun Ho-jung on the 30th and proposed moving the county to Tier 4 under the Local Preferential Index and designating it additionally as a depopulation area. He also called for the disclosure of specific calculation criteria, including the weights assigned to each indicator and the evaluation results.
At the meeting, Governor Choi explained the circumstances of the border area, where development has long been constrained by military facility protection zones and various environmental regulations. He stressed that the impact of military families moving into the county on population indicators should be reflected in the assessment, and that the assessment should consider not only the straight-line distance to Seoul but also actual travel times, transport links, and disparities in medical and educational conditions.
Inje County’s case rests on the numbers. As of September, the county had a population of 30,636, down 1,397 from when it was first designated a population decline watch area in 2021. It also ranked 151st among 167 cities and counties nationwide in the Korea Development Institute’s regional underdevelopment assessment. Despite this, it was excluded from the latest redesignation of depopulation areas and classified as a Population Vitality Plus area.
The county is concerned about the classification because it determines not only the level of government program support but also eligibility to participate. Some programs that only depopulation areas can apply for will be entirely out of reach.
The meeting is a continuation of Inje County’s response over the past 10 days. On the 20th, the county submitted its official position to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety through Gangwon State. On the 22nd, it held a press conference at the Gangwon Provincial Government with an emergency response committee formed with the county council, civic groups, and others. On the 27th and 28th, it held a countywide protest rally outside the National Assembly, with around 1,000 cumulative participants, and delivered petitions to the National Assembly’s Security and Public Administration Committee and Special Committee on Budget and Accounts. Governor Choi also joined a head-shaving protest.
Then, on the 29th, the emergency response committee submitted an opinion letter to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, attaching signature sheets bearing the names of around 9,000 residents. Inje County plans to continue its response with the county council and emergency response committee, and to call on the government and National Assembly to improve the system until a fair assessment suited to local conditions is carried out.
Meanwhile, after the meeting that day, Inje County Governor Choi Sang-gi said, “I received a response from Minister Yun that he was actively considering redesignating the Local Preferential Index tiers and would ensure that the tier designation did not disadvantage the county in terms of support or benefits for residents.”

[email protected] Kim Gi-seop Reporter