President Lee Jae-myung said on the 24th that he hopes "there is no misunderstanding" regarding the National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee's passage of the administrative integration special law that excluded Chungnam and Daejeon. President Lee stated that Chungnam and Daejeon were excluded because "the opposition party and Chungnam provincial and city councils oppose the merger." This dismissed claims from some quarters that the Presidential Office was dissatisfied with the bill's passage without Chungnam and Daejeon.
President Lee wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that day, "We cannot unilaterally push forward with the integration of metropolitan administrative districts that have a thousand years of history without sufficient consensus." He shared an article with the title. The article reported on the situation where only the Jeonnam-Gwangju integration special law was processed at the National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee that day, quoting political figures as saying "the Presidential Office has reason to be angry at the Democratic Party." Through statements from other figures, the article also reported that "ahead of local elections, the ruling and opposition parties joined hands according to their political interests, effectively sidelining the Presidential Office."
Regarding this, President Lee emphasized, "The government's position was not to push through against the opposition of the opposition party and provincial and city councils," adding, "Even if not 100%, at least the relevant regions must generally agree and the political sphere must also generally consent for integration to proceed." Finally, President Lee added, "I hope there is no misunderstanding."
Meanwhile, Choo Mi-ae, chair of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee and member of the Democratic Party of Korea, held a plenary session that day and passed the "Special Act for Establishing the Jeonnam-Gwangju Integrated Special City (Jeonnam-Gwangju Integration Special Act)" with 11 in favor and 7 abstentions among 18 members present.
The core of the bill involves abolishing the existing Gwangju Metropolitan City and Jeollanam-do Province, establishing the Jeonnam-Gwangju Integrated Special City, and granting it a status equivalent to Seoul Special City. It also includes provisions for various administrative and fiscal special measures and support. The Legislation and Judiciary Committee had originally planned to process special laws for Chungnam-Daejeon and Daegu-Gyeongbuk in addition to Jeonnam-Gwangju that day, but due to intense opposition from the People Power Party regarding those regions, only the Jeonnam-Gwangju integration special law was processed for now.