[Dialogue] Extinction of the Countryside—In Search of Its Alternatives / Kim Yuwha, Lee Kwan Hu, Lee Nam Ju, Jung Jun-Ho
The Quarterly Changbi 192, Summer
Abstract
This issue’s dialogue begins our serial reflection on the “2022 presidential election—tasks of great transformation,” a project to present major issues for the presidential election next year. We discuss the issue of regional imbalance, one essential to the transformation of our entire country, and the rearrangement of our values in areas of inequality, growth, environment, energy, and population. Moderated by political scientist Lee Nam Ju, this dialogue was conducted by Kim Yuwha, an expert advisor for the Korea Women Parliamentarian Network, Researcher Lee Kwan Hu of the Gyeongnam Institute, and Professor Jung Jun-Ho at the Department of Real Estate, Kangwon National University. They comprehensively discuss various major issues, such as the paradigm and cognitive sensibility of the countryside, the securing of self-sufficient settlement conditions, decentralization and self-government capabilities reinforcement, plans for super-regional zones and integration, and region-centered inter-Korean interchanges. It is a noteworthy dialogue that presents abundant new solutions to the issues, going beyond superficial theories of balanced regional development.