Professor Jong-in Baek (Law School) received the Geunjeong Medal on February 28 in recognition of his contributions to local decentralization reform.

Professor Baek has served as a Working Committee Member of the Local Decentralization Promotion Committee since 2009. Since 2011, he has held the position of Second Working Committee Chair, leading national initiatives for local decentralization reform and spearheading institutional reforms to promote decentralization. In particular, during deliberations on decentralization reform, he has been commended for making concerted efforts to ensure that the interests of financially disadvantaged local governments, such as those in Jeonbuk, are adequately considered, thereby contributing to the realization of rational local autonomy.

The Local Decentralization Promotion Committee is a presidential committee that comprehensively coordinates and reviews decentralization tasks. It has focused on reforming laws and systems to rationally allocate and share authority between central and local governments so that the state and local governments can achieve mutual growth and development.

Professor Baek also served as a member of the Committee for the Transfer of Central Administrative Authority to Local Governments during the Participatory Government. In recognition of his leadership in reforming the local autonomy system, he received a Presidential Citation. He has served as dean of the College of Law, vice president of the Korean Local Autonomy Law Association, a policy advisory member to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, and a member of the Jeonbuk Provincial Administrative Appeals Commission. He currently serves as president of the Korean Association of State Law.