Inje County seeks Zone 4 under Local Preferential Index...Final notice and annual recalculation are pivotal

【Financial News, Inje = Reporter Kim Gi-seop】As Inje County strongly protests the Ministry of the Interior and Safety’s designation of the county as Zone 2 under the Local Preferential Index, attention is focused on the government’s next steps. For the county’s requested change to Zone 4 to take effect, it must be reflected in the final notice expected as early as this month, or approved by the Presidential Committee for the Era of Local Autonomy in a subsequent annual recalculation.
According to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and Inje County on the 1st, the deadline for submitting comments on the ministry’s draft notice establishing regulations for the operation and management of the Local Preferential Index, which was announced in advance on October 21, is the 2nd. The ministry plans to review the comments received and finalize the zone classifications for 229 cities, counties and districts in a notice this month.
◆This month’s final notice is the first hurdle
According to the appendix to the draft notice, five of Gangwon Province’s 18 cities and counties are in Zone 2: Chuncheon, Wonju, Gangneung, Sokcho and Inje County. Neighboring Yanggu County and Hwacheon County are in Zone 3, while Goseong County, also on the border, is in Zone 4. Inje County is the only county-level area in the province grouped with urban areas.
Inje County submitted its official comments through Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province, and its emergency committee also sent the Ministry of the Interior and Safety a submission bearing signatures from around 9,000 residents. If the zones are adjusted in the final version, Inje County will be subject to the revised criteria from next year, when the index is first applied.
◆After the notice, recalculation...Committee approval required
Even if the change is not reflected in the final notice, another path remains. The draft notice allows the index to be recalculated and the zones changed if necessary, but requires the matter to go through deliberation and a resolution by the Presidential Committee for the Era of Local Autonomy. Since the Ministry of the Interior and Safety has said it will recalculate the index every year, the key question is whether actual travel times and adjustments for the military population will be reflected.
However, the provision on hearing local governments’ views during recalculation is discretionary, not mandatory. For Inje County, securing a channel to submit its views at each recalculation also remains a challenge.


◆Interior and Safety Minister says “actively considering” the change...National Assembly budget review also a factor
On October 30, Interior and Safety Minister Yun Ho-jung met with Inje County Governor Choi Sang-gi and said he was actively considering redesignating the zone and would ensure county residents were not disadvantaged in the benefits they receive. Inje County welcomed the minister’s response but said it would wait to see what the final notice actually says.
Another factor is that the Local Preferential Index already applies to 23 projects in next year’s government budget proposal. The central government’s subsidy rate for Local Love Gift Certificates is 6% in Zone 2 and 9% in Zone 4, a difference of 3 percentage points depending on the zone. This is why Inje County residents delivered a petition to the National Assembly’s Public Administration and Security Committee and Special Committee on Budget and Accounts.
◆Depopulation Region status and disclosure of calculation criteria remain challenges
The draft notice lists the status of Depopulation Regions as one of the criteria for calculating the index. Last month, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety classified Inje County, previously a depopulation concern area, as a Population Vitality Plus Region. In that case, existing support continues for five years, but the county may be barred from participating in open-call projects exclusively for Depopulation Regions. Since the redesignation cycle is five years, any additional designation would require a separate government decision.
The Ministry of the Interior and Safety has decided not to disclose the index or rankings for individual regions, in order to prevent stigma and excessive competition between regions. Inje County, however, argues that the soundness of the zone classifications can only be assessed if the weights assigned to each indicator and the evaluation results are made public.
During his meeting with the minister, Inje County Governor Choi Sang-gi said, “Rather than looking only at the straight-line distance to Seoul, we need to consider together the time it actually takes to travel, the road network, and the poor medical, educational and cultural conditions,” and asked, “Please also disclose transparently the weight assigned to each indicator and the basis for the evaluations.”

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