Candidate Kim Kyung-jin Announces Pledge to Revitalize Malbau Market

Night Market and Cultural Festival Held... Promoting Tourism-Oriented Markets with Bus Parking

Fire Insurance Premiums and Infectious Disease Damage Support... Promoting Small Business Owners' Livelihood Stability

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] Kim Kyung-jin, a preliminary candidate for the National Assembly election in Buk-gu (Gap), Gwangju Metropolitan City, announced on the 26th that he will revitalize Malbau Market, the region's largest traditional market, as a tourist market.

Candidate Kim has been working to address the chronic problems of Malbau Market, such as parking difficulties and the renovation of aging facilities.

In 2017, as a local member of the National Assembly, he contributed to Malbau Market being selected for the "Cultural Tourism Market Development Project" and secured a project budget of 1.58 billion KRW over the past three years.

Malbau Market has currently completed modernization of its facilities, including the installation of an arcade roof, replacement of signboards, and maintenance of passageways.

Additionally, Candidate Kim has devoted efforts to securing parking lots for Malbau Market. With about 27,000 visitors daily, the market only had 126 parking spaces, which was a major reason citizens hesitated to visit.

In response, in 2018, when local governments found it difficult to install or expand traditional market parking lots due to financial burdens, Kim proposed the "Traditional Market Act," which significantly increased the national subsidy rate from 60% to 80%. He also suggested a project to convert the former Dongsin Driving School site within the market into a public parking lot, securing 18 billion KRW for the Malbau Market parking lot project.

Candidate Kim plans to focus on qualitative improvements now that Malbau Market has enhanced its quantitative aspects through facility modernization and parking lot provision.

He intends to concentrate support on small business owners and develop unique content exclusive to Malbau Market to revitalize the local commercial district.

Looking at the pledges announced by Candidate Kim, the first is the opening of a night market and hosting cultural festivals.

To breathe new life into the stagnant traditional market, he plans to open a night market and hold year-round festivals such as sports, movies, and cultural performances in the market's central passageway, attracting not only Gwangju citizens but also tourists. He will actively participate in the Regional Leading Market Development Project to achieve this.

The second pledge is to improve the access roads to the public parking lot.

He plans to enhance accessibility to the public parking lot currently under construction to accommodate group tourists. The parking lot's entrance and exit roads will be expanded and improved to facilitate smooth entry and exit of large buses.

The third pledge is support for fire insurance premiums for traditional markets.

Traditional markets have a high risk of large fires due to dense store structures and electrical facilities. However, small merchants find it difficult to subscribe to fire insurance due to premium costs despite recognizing its necessity.

Therefore, through legislation that requires the government and local governments to partially support fire insurance premiums for traditional markets, the plan is to increase fire insurance subscription rates and support rapid recovery and livelihood stabilization of market merchants in case of fire.

The fourth pledge is to protect the local commercial district and promote the livelihood stability of small business owners.

Repeated downturns in local commercial districts have occurred due to reduced outdoor activities during infectious disease outbreaks such as SARS in 2003, novel influenza in 2009, MERS in 2015, and COVID-19 in 2020.

Accordingly, through legislation providing livelihood expenses, financial support, and tax relief benefits to small business owners in infectious disease-affected areas, the plan is to protect local commercial districts and promote the livelihood stability of small business owners.

Candidate Kim Kyung-jin stated, "Malbau Market now has infrastructure comparable to large marts thanks to facility modernization and parking lot projects," adding, "Now, it must transform into a tourist market offering various attractions unique to traditional markets, such as night markets and cultural festivals."

He continued, "The local economy, already struggling due to COVID-19, is further shrinking," and said, "We will devote all efforts to establishing fundamental solutions to protect local commercial districts and small business owners from repeated infectious disease outbreaks and the resulting economic downturn."

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