Current time may be characterized by the age of the break-through in information and communication technologies which affects our lives so deeply. Local governments are not the exceptions of this change. They must adapt themselves to the new environments which can be considered as a challenge. Unfortunately, however, current role and structure of Korean local governments have many problems. Moreover, they are inadequate to survive new environments. The main purpose f this study is to find ways to cope with the problems in terms of role and structure of local governments. For the role of local government, this study suggests more active role in local economic development. Also, this paper criticizes inefficiencies in hierarchical structure of Korean decentralized government system which limits competitions among governments. Therefore, this study strongly recommends to merge provincial governments into 6 metropolitan city governments to increase efficiencies and to encourage competition. For Jeju and Gangwon provinces which do not have any metropolitan city within their jurisdictions, this study suggests to consolidate with their capital cities.