Kim Cheol-woo, Bosung County Governor, Concludes 'Completely Changed Dialogue with Residents'

Focused Discussion on Key Regional Issues through Resident Joint Presentations and County-wide Debates

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Yong-chul] Kim Cheol-woo, the governor of Boseong County, concluded a four-day schedule of empathetic dialogues with residents on the 16th.

According to Boseong County on the 17th, the county held empathetic dialogues with residents for 2020 by visiting 12 towns and townships, starting with Boseong-eup on the 13th, about a week earlier than last year.

During the dialogues in the towns and townships, Governor Kim led the conversations energetically by shouting the cheer “I-yeong-cha(茶)~!” together with the residents, combining ‘I-yeong,’ meaning 20 years in the Year of the Rat, and ‘cha(茶),’ evoking Boseong green tea.

This year’s dialogues with residents were conducted under the theme “We will make a proud Boseong County” in the third year of the 7th elected term, serving as an opportunity to share Governor Kim Cheol-woo’s administrative philosophy of the 7th term, which practices “communication administration one step ahead, field administration two steps faster.”

In particular, the traditional dialogue method focused on individual difficulties and suggestions was changed to a large-scale debate format among townspeople, receiving evaluations from residents as a “fresh and progressive improvement.”

Governor Kim Cheol-woo explained, “We introduced a new method called the residents’ grand debate to actively reflect residents’ opinions on large-scale projects being promoted in each town and township.”

Also, the debate topics were directly proposed by the towns and townships, focusing on productive ideas regarding regional revitalization plans and key local specialized issues.

Despite various sharp questions from residents, Governor Kim combined his unique humor and wit to explain in a resident-friendly and easy-to-understand manner, making the four-day dialogue schedule proceed in a warm and friendly atmosphere. At the final dialogue town and township, he even received New Year’s money from the representative head of the senior citizens’ center, gaining high support and response from the residents.

Moreover, before starting the empathetic dialogues with residents, Governor Kim renewed his commitment by taking an oath of office one and a half years late. In July 2018, due to a typhoon, he was the first in the nation to cancel the inauguration ceremony and began the 7th elected term focusing on disaster preparedness work.

During the four days, Boseong County collected a total of 493 valuable residents’ opinions, including 126 on-site suggestions, 231 written suggestions through suggestion boxes, and 136 pre-submitted projects across 12 towns and townships.

Governor Kim promised once again, “I will do my best in county administration to fully listen to everyone’s voices and promote policies that prioritize and are decided by the residents.”

Meanwhile, Boseong County, including Kang Won-seok, Director of the Autonomous Administration Bureau, and Im Jun-ho, Director of the Industrial Safety Bureau, along with heads of departments and towns and townships, reported to residents on the results and progress of 262 suggestions made during last year’s empathetic dialogues with residents, providing immediate and practical answers to residents’ inquiries.

Of the 116 town and township long-awaited projects pre-submitted last year, 100% have been completed. Among the 262 resident suggestions received during the empathetic dialogues, 193 projects have been completed (89%), and 24 are underway. For 20 projects requiring long-term review and 25 projects that cannot proceed due to legal regulations, detailed explanations were provided to residents, enhancing trust in county administration.

Boseong County plans to respond promptly in writing or by phone to all opinions received in writing, including questions answered on-site, after thorough on-site verification and review by each department, and will actively reflect every single resident opinion in county administration without neglect.

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