Gwangju City has selected four exemplary cases of regulatory reform in its first competition since the city's integration, including the recognition of rice blast disease as an agricultural disaster.
The city announced that it chose the final exemplary cases submitted by the Food Horticulture Division, Energy Policy Division, Land Management Division, and Chemical Steel Industry Division during the recent regulatory reform competition.
The competition focused on nine cases identified over the past year by the former Jeonnam and Gwangju departments, which proposed improvements to central government agencies that led to actual amendments to laws or system improvements.
Six judges, including members of the former Jeonnam and Gwangju Regulatory Reform Committee and private experts, evaluated the cases based on criteria such as creativity, difficulty, effectiveness, and potential for dissemination, with 60% of the score based on case excellence and 40% on presentation quality and preparedness.
The Food Horticulture Division received high marks for its case recognizing the rice blast disease, which spread due to abnormal high temperatures, as an agricultural disaster.
Gwangju City demonstrated through joint sampling investigations that the damage rate from rice blast disease exceeded 30%, achieving the distinction of being the first in the nation to have this damage recognized as an agricultural disaster. This significant achievement provides a basis for institutional support backed by objective investigation data from the agricultural field.
The Energy Policy Division improved regulations related to solar power facilities in agricultural promotion zones. The previous law restricted solar installations in these zones and limited temporary usage permits to eight years. The new regulations extend the permit period to a maximum of 23 years.
This change reflects the long-term operational needs of solar power projects and addresses discrepancies between project duration and licensing requirements raised in the field.
The Land Management Division tackled the issue of unregistered land in the former Jeonnam region, which was registered during the Japanese colonial land survey but never officially recorded.
This unregistered land comprises over 116,000 parcels. Gwangju City collaborated with the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission to resolve long-standing property rights and administrative management issues, leading to the proposal of a special law regarding the nationalization of unregistered land.
The Chemical Steel Industry Division was recognized for improving road setback regulations that hindered the construction of high-pressure gas pipelines in the Yeosu National Industrial Complex, which has been established for 45 years.
Previously, existing regulations made it difficult to build new high-pressure gas pipelines, but the regulatory improvements now allow exceptions to the road setback regulations for facilities that meet safety standards. This case is seen as a regulatory reform that considers both the improvement of industrial infrastructure in aging national industrial complexes and the investment conditions for businesses.
Song Mun-jeong, the legal officer of Gwangju City, stated, "This achievement is the result of efforts to connect the voices from the field to institutional improvements. We will widely publicize the selected exemplary cases and continue to identify and improve unreasonable regulations that are felt in the field."
The four selected cases will represent Gwangju City in the 'Local Regulatory Reform Exemplary Case Competition' organized by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety in September.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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