People Power Party presidential candidate Kim Moon-soo has vowed to drastically ease development regulations in regions at risk of population extinction, saying he would lift most restrictions within his first year in office. 

Speaking Monday at a party office in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province, Kim criticized current greenbelt policies, saying much of the countryside remains restricted despite being depopulated and filled with abandoned homes and idle farmland.

Kim said addressing regional decline is more urgent than responding to wildfires, but warned that simultaneous deregulation in the capital region could accelerate depopulation in the provinces.

He pledged to amend the Constitution to define South Korea as a decentralized state and transfer key powers, including responsibility for land use and greenbelt management, to local governments.

Kim also vowed to expedite the completion of the National Assembly’s Sejong office and a second presidential office there, while relocating several central government agencies from the capital region and codifying Sejong’s status as the administrative capital through a constitutional amendment.