Candidate Yibong Lee: "Eodeungsan Development Must Be Fully Reconsidered"

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Lee Yong-bin, the preliminary candidate for Gwangsan-gu Gap, Gwangju Metropolitan City of the Democratic Party of Korea, stated on the 9th, "The Eodeungsan Tourism Complex Development Project must be thoroughly reconsidered starting with the question of who the development is for," and added, "It should embody the pride of the origin of Gwangju's spiritual civilization and a new future."

Candidate Lee said, "Regarding the Eodeungsan development, which has been drifting without a fundamental breakthrough, the political circles and local administration must make a decisive decision, gather the wisdom of the citizens again, and find a proper direction to set it right," and "In that regard, I actively welcome the recent proposal by Gwangsan District Office for a comprehensive review alongside citizen consensus."

He continued, "From the perspective of revitalizing the local economy of Gwangju and Gwangsan-gu, tourism development projects and the activation of private investment attraction have always been major topics," and pointed out, "Among these, active private investment has been an important means to complement insufficient finances and to promote local economic revitalization through investment in tourism development projects."

He also added, "In the case of tourism complexes, active private investment is an absolutely important prerequisite, but according to past statistics under the Tourism Promotion Act, the private investment attraction performance for tourism complex development projects was only 39.4% compared to the initial plan, and 6 out of 10 projects are facing difficulties in commercialization mainly due to profitability and funding issues, which is a stark reality."

He emphasized, "Eodeungsan is the origin of Gwangju's spirit, containing the history of the Imjin War and the anti-Japanese volunteer army during the late Joseon period, the last stronghold of the volunteer army resistance, and the central axis of the historical and cultural belt connecting Imgok, Yongjinsan, Hwangryonggang, and Eodeungsan, which hold the humanities history of Honam," and added, "It must embody the pride of the origin of Gwangju's spiritual civilization and a new future."

He then proposed, "A fundamental reconsideration of whether to continue the Eodeungsan Tourism Complex Development Project itself, a complete shift of future utilization plans to a lifestyle tourism concept close to citizen happiness, private investment REITs development + citizen shareholder-type operation, and preparation of plans to turn development profits into regional assets (regional reinvestment)," and suggested, "Let us create a clear solution by conducting citizen consensus and public discussion in parallel."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.