Gwangju Mayor Lee Yong-seop Receives 'Best' Pledge Evaluation for Two Consecutive Years

Korea Manifesto Practice Headquarters Hosts, Provincial Governors' Pledge Implementation Evaluation SA Grade

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Gwangju Metropolitan City received the ‘Highest Grade (SA)’ for two consecutive years in the 2020 evaluation of the fulfillment of pledges by mayors of cities and provinces nationwide during the 7th local government term, conducted by the Korea Manifesto Practice Headquarters.

According to the announcement by the Korea Manifesto Practice Headquarters on the 25th, five metropolitan local governments including Gwangju Metropolitan City, Seoul Special City, Gyeonggi Province, Chungcheongnam-do, and Jeju Special Self-Governing Province were selected for the highest grade, SA, in the evaluation of pledge fulfillment by mayors nationwide during the 7th local government term.

In particular, Gwangju Metropolitan City achieved the remarkable feat of being the only metropolitan local government to receive the SA grade in all three areas: comprehensive evaluation, pledge fulfillment completion (45 points or more), goal achievement (98 points or more), and resident communication (75 points or more).

While last year’s first-year evaluation focused on the pledge implementation plan, this year’s evaluation comprehensively assessed the degree of pledge completion, implementation compared to the 2019 plan, and the level of resident communication. This reflects external recognition of Mayor Lee Yong-seop’s commitment and execution ability in fulfilling pledges at the midpoint of the 7th local government term.

This evaluation by the Korea Manifesto Practice Headquarters focused on the pledge fulfillment status posted on metropolitan local government websites, with five indicators: ▲Pledge Fulfillment Completion (100 points) ▲Goal Achievement (100 points) ▲Resident Communication (100 points) ▲Web Communication (Pass/Fail) ▲Pledge Consistency (Pass/Fail).

In the pledge fulfillment completion category, out of 223 pledge projects, 116 projects (52.02%) such as ▲Creation of a regulation-free economic free zone ▲Preparation of financial and tax support measures including local tax reductions ▲Operation of a next-generation energy storage system (ESS) demonstration complex were evaluated as completed or in progress.

In the goal achievement category, 104 projects such as ▲Creation of an artificial intelligence startup complex ▲Creation of an automobile specialized industrial complex were evaluated as being normally promoted according to the annual plans including securing national funding.

In the resident communication category, improvements were reflected in making the mayor’s pledge-related homepage more accessible for citizens to easily access information on pledge fulfillment and communicate.

Additionally, the system of collecting citizen opinions from the pledge implementation planning stage and conducting self-evaluation of pledge fulfillment status through deliberation by about 50 randomly selected ‘Citizen Jury for Pledge Evaluation’ during the 7th local government term, as well as adjusting the effectiveness of pledges, was positively evaluated.

Mayor Lee Yong-seop said, “The pledges of the 7th local government term are the first promise to citizens and the roadmap of city administration,” and added, “We will prioritize fulfilling the pledges made to citizens and do our best to lead the development of Gwangju and changes in citizens’ lives.”

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