On ‘Yoo Jung-bok-Gim Tae-hum’ opposing Gimpo’s transfer to Seoul…Cho Kyung-tae “Metropolitan Governor who can’t read the world flow”

Representative Cho Kyung-tae of the People Power Party./National Assembly Photojournalist Foundation

On the 7th, Representative Cho Kyung-tae, chairman of the People Power Party’s New City Project Special Committee, strongly criticized Incheon Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok and Chungnam Governor Kim Tae-heum, who opposed the incorporation of Gimpo into Seoul, saying, “Do they have to be such provincial governors who are too biased, narrow-minded, and unable to read global trends?”

In an interview with SBS Radio’s ‘Kim Tae-hyun’s News Show’ on the day, Cho said, “Why am I talking about Seoul even though I’m from Busan? It means to enhance the competitiveness of any city in our country, and why am I advocating for the megacity of Gwangju even though I’m from Busan? Is it necessary to marginalize Honam, including Gwangju? That’s not the case. We need to play a bigger game.”

He went on to say, “The heads of metropolitan governments say they will only take care of their own regions, but have they really been taken care of?” and asked, “After the 1990s, we have practiced local autonomy, but the regions have shrunk even more. Why don’t they reflect on that? Honestly, isn’t Incheon a big city because of Seoul?”

He also emphasized, “If we talk too specifically, we can’t help but fall behind the urban development of other countries,” and said, “After Macron became president, he made Paris a super-metropolitan city. Do you know what rank Paris is in the world city index thanks to that? Paris is the third in the world. Third, and Tokyo, whether you like it or not, Tokyo is now the fourth in the world city competitiveness index by becoming a super-metropolitan city.”

He then argued, “In order for our country to grow a little more and become bigger, and for local cities not to disappear anymore and not to fall behind anymore, and to become self-sufficient cities, and to create a city system suitable for the Fourth Industrial Revolution era, a bold administrative system is needed,” and asked, “This has been the case in advanced foreign countries, the UK, France, Germany, the US, Japan, and even nearby China, for more than 20 years, but should our country be left behind?”

Regarding the mention of his running in Gimpo along with Representative Kim Ki-hyun from some opposition circles, he criticized, “Don’t you think it’s very childish?” and said, “We should compete with policies as policies, why politicize them?”

Representative Cho said, “Why make such comments that politicize the policy when we are talking about the policy out of the blue. Is that how the opposition feels confident?” and raised his voice, saying, “The candidate who has gone one step further than Gimpo’s incorporation is Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party. Isn’t he the current party leader? He said on January 11, 2022, that he will restructure the Republic of Korea into a 5-pole 3-special system and develop it into a super-metropolitan megacity.”