○ In addition to local extinction-related concerns, the issue of rural extinction is being strongly felt nationwide. Nevertheless, little social and government attention has been paid to potential rural extinction driven by depopulation and aging residents. The analysis of population and housing census data for the period 2000–2022 revealed the continued aggravation of rural depopulation and aging in Jeonbuk State, evidenced by the reduction in the number of preadolescents and women of reproductive age.

○ Specifically, the number of “small villages” (with less than 50 inhabitants) increased by more than 2.3 times from 686 in 2000 to 1,601 in 2022, and the number of villages without preadolescents skyrocketed by approximately 5 times from 215 to 1,094 over the same period. The number of villages without women of reproductive age also rose by 1.5 times from 583 in 2000 to 799 in 2022, while the number of “marginal villages” (with elderly populations over 50%) sharply increased by 19.2 times from 69 (1.3%) to 1,328 (25.7%) over the same period, confirming accelerated aging. 

○ Under these circumstances, developing response strategies to cope with local extinction is an inevitable and urgent national task that takes top priority to achieve balanced national development and address the problems that threaten the existence of rural communities. The government is promoting an ambitious policy called “rural space planning” with a focus on completely transforming rural spaces to combat local extinction. However, without well-designed strategies that consider the reality of both the forest (Jeonbuk State as a whole) and the trees (rural villages), the newly proposed policy will prove ineffective in delivering more tangible outcomes than the existing policies.

○ Jeonbuk State must perform an accurate reality check on rural villages and achieve the complete transformation of rural areas in Jeonbuk while implementing rural space planning systems as part of its response to local extinction. To do so, it is necessary to construct a spatial big data architecture for rural villages and incorporate it into relevant guidelines so that it can be used as an integral instrument for rural space planning. Furthermore, it is vital to promote the standardization and integration of basic administrative district data, which is the boundary map of the smallest administrative units created by cities and counties with provincial funding. This process will create a basic map of spatial big data on rural villages. Building a spatial big data architecture of the smallest urban administrative units will also significantly help create solutions that approach urban problems from multiple angles, including urban regeneration projects.

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