The Council represents county residents. It handles budget and settled account, and petition and appeal from residents. Within the law, the council holds legislative rights to enact, amend and annul its rules, and conducts audit and investigation into administrative affairs, thus controling relevant authorities' activities. In sort, the council has major 3 roles as the residents' representative, as the legislative organ, and as the observing organ.

The local council consists of representatives from the election, and has authority as the residents' representative organ to deliberate and determine the important proposals from the local government. If the all inhabitants get together and decide, it will be ideal and perfect way. But, it is almost impossible nowadays.
So, the representative democracy is general for central and local government. Under this system, the local council is the necessary organ for local government system.

The local council is the voting organ to deliberate and vote for finance, policy, enterprise, and ordinance of the local government.
The council has the authority as the voting organ to finally determine the agenda from the local government for important matters, so it is different from just advisor organs. But it cannot execute the decided matters, so it is different from the executive organ.

The local council has authority to legislate ordinance which is the basic law for the local government. The national assembly has enactory right, and the President can order. Like this, the local government has a enactory right for ordinance, and the local head has a right for rule enactment.
In this view, under the decentralization system of the local government, the local council has a authority as the legislative organ.

The local council has a authority to observe, supervise, and confirm the executive organ. The executive organ takes decisions from the council and executes its jobs sincerely. The present local government act defines in Article 36 that「The local council can audit the works of the local government, and investigate special matters among the works. If necessary, the local council can survey on-site or request submission of documents, attending testimony or opinion statement of the local head or subsidiary organs.」So the council has a control right to supervise and observe. Because of this reason, people say the core of the local government system is the local council. If the local government just goes its own way, the local government system cannot be existed.
So, the local council has a important mission to control these administrative organs, and Korean separation of three powers system can keep checks and balances between organs.