Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province have committed to launching a Daegu-Gyeongbuk Integrated Metropolitan City in 2028, anchoring the timetable to a Special Integration Act the two regions want enacted within the year.

The agreement came at a four-party meeting on October 6 at 4 p.m. at the Sanggyeok Government Complex of Daegu City Hall. Daegu Mayor Kyungho Chu, North Gyeongsang Province Governor Cheolwoo Lee, Daegu City Council Chair Inhwan Lim and Gyeongbuk Provincial Assembly Chair Brian Heeseong Kim attended.

The leaders agreed to jointly pursue five items: construction of the Daegu-Gyeongbuk Integrated New Airport, administrative unification, the second round of public institution relocations, cooperation on an ultra-wide regional living and economic zone, and expansion of local fiscal resources.

What did the leaders commit to?

To hold the 2028 launch date, Daegu and Gyeongbuk plan a joint meeting with local National Assembly members in November. They will also strengthen the Daegu-Gyeongbuk Administrative Unification Task Force and draft a joint development strategy covering the northern region of Gyeongbuk.

The two regions framed the integrated new airport as the region's growth engine and a core initiative for balanced national development. They agreed to marshal all available local capabilities and coordinate to secure comprehensive central government support for the project.

"Daegu and Gyeongbuk are one family; the development of Daegu leads to the development of Gyeongbuk, and vice versa," Mayor Chu said. "Let's cooperate closely on key issues such as administrative unification, the new airport, and public institution relocations."

Governor Lee put a harder edge on the legislative deadline. "The Daegu-Gyeongbuk Administrative Unification Act, currently pending at the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee, must be passed within this year, even if it requires protest," he said. "After one and a half years of preparations, we must achieve integration by the 2028 general elections."

Lee also quantified the cost of airport delay: restricted land use covering 25 million pyeong — approximately 82.5 million square meters — around the stalled project. "We can't afford any further delays," he said.

How will the ultra-wide zone work in practice?

The two local governments committed to administrative and financial cooperation across four sectors: economy, transportation, tourism and healthcare. Each carries a concrete deliverable.

• Economy: By year-end, the regions will formulate the "5 Strategic Hubs, 3 Special Districts Daegu-Gyeongbuk Growth Engine Fostering Plan" and establish a joint task force to create a specialized industrial complex for the national advanced humanoid robot industry.
• Transportation: They will build a Daegu-Gyeongbuk regional transportation network to form the unified living and economic zone, with close cooperation on the Daegu-Gyeongbuk metropolitan railway and other key projects.
• Tourism: A Daegu-Gyeongbuk tourism consultative body will be established in line with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism's "Local Airport-Centered Tourism Zone Development Project," with jointly planned content development and marketing.
• Healthcare: The regions will develop a governance body for essential medical cooperation and advance a joint project linking medical resources to close gaps in critical and emergency care.

The tourism pillar connects directly to the airport agenda: the ministry's program explicitly ties tourism-zone development to local airports, giving the two governments a policy instrument that links air connectivity to regional visitor demand.

Where does the money fight sit?

Daegu and Gyeongbuk stated clear opposition to the government's plan to fund the Future Response Fund using local allocation tax resources, which they described as the region's share.

The two regions intend to join forces with local National Assembly members and other local governments so that, during legislative reviews and budget deliberations at the National Assembly in November, allocation tax resources are distributed according to current standards. They will also cooperate to expand independent fiscal bases, including the local allocation tax and the local consumption tax.

The fiscal standoff matters for the airport and integration agenda alike: both depend on sustained capital commitments, and any diversion of allocation tax revenue would compress the regions' room to co-fund infrastructure and administrative restructuring.

What are the political stakes?

The councils' leadership framed unification as existential rather than administrative. "Daegu and Gyeongbuk were originally one, and now it is time for formal unification," Daegu City Council Chair Lim said. "Let's communicate and deliberate with the mindset of becoming one."

Gyeongbuk Provincial Assembly Chair Kim went further. "Local autonomy is under threat of being wiped out, and we are at a point of desperate urgency with no room to retreat," he said.

What happens next?

The near-term test is legislative, not procedural. The unification bill sits at the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee, and Governor Lee has staked the 2028 launch — timed to the general elections — on passage this year, followed by an eighteen-month preparation period. The November joint meeting with local lawmakers, combined with the budget fight over the Future Response Fund, will show whether the four-way consensus converts into statutory reality and whether the integrated new airport, with 82.5 million square meters of land already restricted by delay, regains a credible construction timeline.