By Yoon Ja-young
Medical schools in the provinces will be obligated to set admissions quotas for locals. State-run enterprises will also have to hire a certain portion of locals. These are part of the government’s plans for balanced regional development.
The Presidential Committee on Regional Development revealed a “vision for balanced development of the nation,” Thursday, which comes amid growing concerns over inequity between provinces and Seoul.
“With centralized administration, it would be difficult to solve problems such as low growth, polarization, low birth, aging of population and disappearance of provinces. Through a paradigm shift, locals will lead in solving these problems and develop a country where residents of any region enjoy a quality life,” the committee noted in a media release.
About half of the country’s population of 51.3 million reside in Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province, which take only 12 percent of the land area. Among the country’s top 1,000 businesses, 74 percent are headquartered in the capital area, while 81 percent of credit card spending is made there.
While the population concentration has led to problems such as surging housing prices and traffic jams, the provinces are suffering a demographic cliff and lack of infrastructure. Among 226 cities, counties, and districts in the country, 34 have no emergency medical center at all and 34 have no hospitals capable of handling the delivery of babies.
The ratio of schools that closed down recorded 21.9 percent in South Jeolla Province, followed by North Gyeongsang province at 19.1 percent. One third of the 226 municipalities are facing the risk of disappearing within 30 years due to shrinking population.
Amid concerns that the imbalance within the country is eating into the growth potential of the economy, the Moon Jae-in administration has included balanced regional development among its five main policy objectives when it announced its five-year plan after Moon’s inauguration.
For this, the government suggested three key goals which include a stable quality life for residents, nurturing the regions into becoming lively, and creating jobs.
The government plans to increase support for national universities in the provinces to enhance their competitive edge based on the strengths of each region. Medical schools and pharmaceutical schools in the provinces will be obligated to set quotas for students from the region as well as those from low-income households.
State-run enterprises and other public institutions that were relocated to the provinces will play a key role in regional development. Following a plan set up during the former Roh Moo-hyun administration whose ideology has been inherited by the current administration, hundreds of state-run enterprises moved to the provinces. The government announced that these state-run entities will be obligated to set quotas for locals when hiring employees.
Culture and tourism are also key areas to lead regional development. It plans to designate 30 cultural cities by 2022 based on the cultural assets of each region.
Residents of the provinces will see social safety nets bolstered. Municipalities with poor social welfare indexes, such as those with high suicide rates, high poverty ratios, or notably low fertility rates, will be designated as zones that need special support.
Seventeen regional trauma centers will be built by 2022, so that trauma patients can get emergency surgeries and treatment 24 hours a day.
Regenerating old cities in the provinces is also in the plan. Industrial facilities that are not in use anymore will be transformed into facilities the locals need, such as cultural facilities or public rental homes.