President Lee Jae Myung pledged to support plans to merge neighboring city and provincial governments as part of his push for growth outside the capital area.

Speaking at a New Year press conference on Wednesday, Lee said that a major shift toward “regionally-driven growth” was already underway, stressing that to become a driver of national growth, each region must have greater scale.

The president described ongoing efforts to merge the governments of Daejeon and South Chungcheong Province, as well as Gwangju and South Jeolla Province, as a symbolic starting point for region-led growth and national survival.

Lee vowed that his regional integration plan would not be swayed by political interests and that differing views would be addressed through robust debate.

He also pledged that the government would provide the necessary administrative, fiscal and institutional support to ensure the success of the integration initiatives.

The president said the mergers would help transform South Korea’s territorial structure from one fully centered on the greater Seoul area into five major megacity regions and three autonomous provinces.