Incheon Metropolitan Mayor Park Chan-dae has been elected as the 19th Chair of the Governors Association of Korea, a body composed of the mayors and governors of the nation’s 16 metropolitan cities and provinces. The City of Incheon (Mayor Park Chan-dae) announced that Park was endorsed as Chair by the unanimous consent of all 15 mayors and governors present at the general meeting held on August 14.
 [코리안투데이] Incheon Mayor Park Chan-dae, elected as the 19th Chair of the Governors Association of Korea © 장형임 기자 |
The Chair’s term runs for one year, from August 14, 2026. With this election, Incheon produces the head of the Governors Association for the third time in its history.
A certified public accountant by background, Chair Park is well versed in policy affairs and has honed his political acumen on the national stage through three terms as a National Assembly member and a tenure as floor leader. This record has led to assessments that he is well suited to effectively convey the demands of local governments to the central government and the National Assembly.
In his acceptance remarks, Chair Park said the era of decentralization is completed not merely through the transfer of authority, but when local governments create their own engines of growth backed by stable finances. He pledged to build a strong one-team cooperation system based on the distinctive competitiveness of the nation’s 16 cities and provinces. He added that he would actively make use of the Chair’s right to attend Cabinet meetings and maintain continuous communication with the National Assembly, so that local governments can establish themselves as confident leading players in the Republic of Korea’s future growth.
The Governors Association of Korea is a statutory consultative body established in 1999 to promote cooperation among the nation’s 16 metropolitan and provincial governments and to expand decentralization. It has functioned as a key channel of central-local communication, coordinating major local autonomy policies through cooperation with the central government and the National Assembly.
In particular, as a revision to the Cabinet meeting regulations now allows the Chair to attend Cabinet meetings, the Chair has gained a foothold to communicate directly with the President and the ministers of each department on regional issues as well as on matters concerning the greater Seoul area. This means the channel through which the voices of Incheon and other local governments can be directly reflected in state policy discussions has widened, and it is drawing attention as a foundation that enables issues directly tied to residents’ daily lives to reach central policy decisions more swiftly.
지역 홍보대사 신청 기자양성과정 신청 코리안투데이 지부장 신청 코리안투데이 인천강화코리안브랜드대상 신청 최고경영인대상 신청 소비자만족도대상 신청
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