Sangju wins top prize at North Gyeongsang Province deregulation competition

Sangju in North Gyeongsang Province won the grand prize at the 2026 North Gyeongsang Province Regulatory Rationalization Best Practices Competition, the city announced Wednesday.

Sangju had been pushing for regulatory reform since 2023, repeatedly urging the Ministry of Environment and the Daegu Regional Environment Office to address a recurring problem: during heavy summer rains, stormwater flooding into sewage treatment facilities caused some wastewater to bypass normal treatment processes, disrupting the supply of industrial water.

As a result, the city helped bring about an amendment to the Enforcement Rules of the Sewage Act in 2025, establishing a legal basis for supplying properly treated wastewater as industrial water without routing it through the final discharge outlet.

This year, Sangju became the first city in the country to receive an exemption from standard operating requirements, allowing it to maintain a stable industrial water supply to its industrial complex even during heavy downpours.

The regulatory reform carries broader significance: by driving an amendment to national legislation, it created an institutional framework that other local governments across the country can now apply in the same way — going beyond a fix for Sangju alone.

The grand prize win earns Sangju the highest score in North Gyeongsang Province's regulatory reform performance evaluation. The city is also set to represent the province at the Ministry of Interior and Safety's national local regulatory rationalization competition.

"We will continue to actively identify and improve unreasonable regulations to build Sangju into a city that is good for business and where citizens can feel the difference that regulatory reform makes," Mayor Ahn Jae-min said.