The Korea Local Administration Review

This study provides the discussion on the necessity and direction of reforming the local administrative system in Korea through simple data analysis on recent changes in the living and economic spheres. Since local autonomy was restored in the 1990s, the local administration system has not changed so much, while the demand resulted from changes in the living and economic spheres has changed dramatically. Beyond the limits of staying in alternative-oriented discourse on the system reform, this study is aimed to specifically to examine changes in the demand for local administrative and public services derived from changes in the spheres, focusing on changes in the residential and daytime population, and to discuss the necessity and direction of reforming the system in Korea also in consideration of the supply side of the services. Besides the demand-side indicators, a series of statistical indicators, such as the number of local officials and local finance-related indicators on the supply side, are additionally considered to discuss on the reforming of the system, that can lead to a richer discussion of related studies that have still been insufficient based on empirical data.