Daejeon-South Chungcheong merger proposal raises concerns over sidelining residents, deepening urban‑rural divides

Democratic Party of Korea lawmakers representing Daejeon and South Chungcheong Province hold a press conference on integrating the two regions at the National Assembly press hall in Seoul, Friday. Yonhap

The Daejeon-South Chungcheong Province merger initiative is poised to become the starting point of the Lee Jae Myung administration’s response to Korea’s demographic decline and deepening regional imbalance.

However, civic groups and experts warn that the rushed, top-down push risks sidelining residents and lacks sufficient social consensus and legal safeguards for integrating two very different regions — one largely urban, and the other more rural.

Lee made the suggestion at a meeting with ruling Democratic Party of Korea lawmakers from Daejeon and South Chungcheong Province, Thursday. He said the merger "could open the way to solving overconcentration and achieving balanced growth."

While acknowledging that it is not easy for local governments to merge, he suggested the merger take place before the June 2026 local elections so that voters in the region can choose the head of the integrated municipality.

The push revives earlier "megacity" and "super-regional cooperation" plans floated by previous administrations, as population and infrastructure remain heavily concentrated in Seoul and the surrounding metropolitan area.

Roughly half of Korea’s 51 million people live in the Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province, which covers only about 12 percent of the country’s land but crams in most of its jobs, transport links, hospitals and universities.

If Daejeon and South Chungcheong Province are combined, the new municipality would have a population of about 3.6 million and 190 trillion won in gross regional domestic product, rivaling Busan in both physical scale and economic weight.

The initiative is being welcomed by both ruling and opposition parties, a rare example of bipartisan alignment. The plan is seen as a countermeasure against national land imbalance and local extinction, even ahead of the local elections where the parties will have to compete for a single municipality chief position.

Commuters move through Seoul Station during the morning rush, Dec. 2. Yonhap

Still, the timeline and top-down nature of the process are drawing mounting concern from civic groups, academics and experts, who point out the government is moving ahead of public consensus.

Daejeon and South Chungcheong held briefings across five districts and 15 cities and counties earlier this year, but did so without releasing a draft bill, prompting criticism that talks with residents were being treated as a mere formality.

"Administrative integration is a critical issue that shakes the entire framework of local autonomy, including governance structures, administrative authority, fiscal allocation and regional identity," the Daejeon Citizens’ Coalition for Participatory Autonomy said in a statement, pointing to a lack of social review and explanation and calling for procedures that allow residents to make their own judgment and decision.

The group added that whether integration can truly help two regions with different urban structures, industrial bases and demographic profiles "must be judged not by political declarations touting a rosy future, but through objective data, expert verification and citizen deliberation," warning that they do not want the region’s future "to be consumed as political fodder."

Administrative friction requiring politically sensitive choices also lies ahead. The merger would involve reshuffling public servants, consolidating or abolishing public agencies and picking the location of a new city hall — all decisions that touch on local identity and pride.

Seong Joo-in, a senior research fellow at the Korea Rural Economic Institute, said current "megacity" plans are "fundamentally framed around urban infrastructure," indicating that the integrated administrative rules could be centered around Daejeon.

Seong said the merger plan should address the "needs of smaller-level towns and counties" in South Chungcheong Province, to prevent rural areas in the province from being pushed to the margins once again.