Mayor Lee Yong-seop Launches Active Efforts to Resolve Current Issues and Secure National Funding

Gwangju City Holds Budget Policy Meeting with the Democratic Party and Gwangju Area National Assembly Members

On the morning of the 23rd, Lee Yong-seop, Mayor of Gwangju Metropolitan City, attended the "Democratic Party of Korea-Gwangju Metropolitan City, Jeonnam Province, Jeonbuk Province Budget Policy Council" held at the Democratic Party of Korea Representative Conference Room in Yeouido, Seoul. He took a commemorative photo with Lee Hae-chan, the party leader, Kim Tae-nyeon, the floor leader, Kim Young-rok, Governor of Jeonnam Province, Song Ha-jin, Governor of Jeonbuk Province, and the heads of city and provincial party committees. Photo by Gwangju Metropolitan City.

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Lee Yong-seop, Mayor of Gwangju Metropolitan City, held a budget policy meeting with the leadership of the Democratic Party of Korea and began full-scale efforts to resolve major local issues and secure next year's national budget.

On the morning of the 23rd, Gwangju Metropolitan City held a 'Budget Policy Meeting' at the Democratic Party of Korea's representative conference room in the National Assembly, attended by Representative Lee Hae-chan, Floor Leader Kim Tae-nyeon, Supreme Council Member Park Kwang-on, Policy Committee Chair Cho Jung-sik, Budget and Accounts Committee Chair Jeong Seong-ho, governors and party chairpersons of Gwangju, Jeonbuk, and Jeonnam provinces.

This Democratic Party-Honam Region Budget Policy Meeting was organized to discuss cooperation plans for major issues in the three cities and provinces of Gwangju, Jeonbuk, and Jeonnam, and to secure next year's national budget.

Mayor Lee Yong-seop stated, "Gwangju is putting all its efforts into the Korean New Deal promoted by the government and ruling party, early termination of COVID-19, and stabilization of real estate prices," and proposed related local issues and national budget requests.

The mayor requested the party to take the lead in simplifying procedures and supporting the budget, such as excluding the establishment of the infectious disease-dedicated Gwangju Medical Center from the preliminary feasibility study target to enable its early establishment.

Mayor Lee pointed out, "Since it is unprofitable and the private sector does not invest, the local government is building the hospital, but the fact that it is subject to the preliminary feasibility study itself is a problem. Due to the nature of the project, the B/C ratio cannot reach 1, so if it goes through the preliminary feasibility study, construction itself will be difficult."

He asked for help to ensure that the first bill passed in the 21st National Assembly's first plenary session would be the enactment of the 'Special Act on Punishment for Distortion of the May 18 History.'

He also requested the prompt passage of the amendment to the 'Act on the Relocation and Support of Military Airports' so that the Ministry of National Defense can take a leading and active role in relocating military airports, including the Gwangju military airport relocation.

In particular, he pointed out, "Military airports are national security facilities, and the relocation issue is a national project and one of President Moon Jae-in's 100 national tasks. Despite causing noise damage and suffering to citizens for decades, the government should apologize and relocate them quickly, but the government, including the Ministry of National Defense, is passing the responsibility to local governments and neglecting the issue."

He requested national budget support of 4 billion KRW for the service cost to establish an AI pilot city in Gwangju, a project supporting the government's Korean New Deal and a core of the Digital New Deal.

He also introduced, "To support the Green New Deal, we announced two days ago that Gwangju will become the first carbon-neutral energy self-sufficient city in Korea by 2045. As the first step, we are promoting the construction of a Gwangju-type automobile factory operating as an RE100 factory powered by solar energy," and asked for budget support in this National Assembly to build a system to operate the Bitgreen Industrial Complex as an energy self-sufficient complex.

In addition, the city requested active cooperation from the party on about ten items, including ▲ enhancing the effectiveness of the Asia Culture Centered City project ▲ corporate tax reduction for advanced technology/products and key attraction industries in the Free Economic Zone ▲ preparation of regulations for housing support for workers in win-win regional jobs ▲ construction of the National Trauma Healing Center ▲ establishment of the Korea Culture Technology (CT) Research Institute in Gwangju ▲ preparation of a special law for AI industry promotion and data processing ▲ passing the preliminary feasibility study for the eco-friendly air industry promotion project.

Meanwhile, as the Ministry of Economy and Finance's budget review for next year's national budget projects is underway, the city proposed reflecting 25 projects worth 456.4 billion KRW in the government budget, including ▲ creation of an AI-centered pilot (demonstration) city ▲ RE100 Gwangju Global Motors implementation energy AI integrated control construction project ▲ innovation base creation using smart mold manufacturing data ▲ expansion of Gwangju Songjeong Station ▲ hosting the National Gwangju Gugak Center ▲ integrated DB construction of May 18 Democratic Movement records.

Mayor Lee Yong-seop expressed gratitude, saying, "I deeply thank our party for providing a communication platform where we can discuss the region's difficulties."

Lee Hae-chan, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, said, "Just as COVID-19 quarantine is important, resolving regional economic difficulties is also crucial. We will make efforts at the party level to ensure that Gwangju's key projects, such as the Gwangju-type New Deal, are reflected as much as possible in the government budget, and we will take interest and support to create a successful model of national balanced development through attracting private capital investment and customized talent development."

Regarding the enactment of the 'Special Act on Punishment for Distortion of the May 18 History,' he predicted, "The 21st National Assembly will differ from the 20th by adopting a stance to inherit the spirit of May 18, so I think there will be more sincerity in enacting the special law."

Supreme Council Member Park Kwang-on also said, "This time, we will definitely enact the special law so that May 18 is properly evaluated and becomes a lasting opportunity for future generations in history. The party will do its best."

Floor Leader Kim Tae-nyeon said, "The Korean New Deal policy is a strategy to shift the axis of national development to a regional focus. The core investment destination of the Korean New Deal will be the regions," and urged, "Gwangju should create a creative regional success case and lead the Korean New Deal."

Lee Yong-seop, Mayor of Gwangju Metropolitan City, and local members of the National Assembly are attending the "Gwangju Area National Assembly Members Budget Policy Meeting" held on the afternoon of the 23rd at the National Assembly Members' Office Building cafeteria in Yeouido, Seoul, and are posing for a commemorative photo. From the left: Yoon Young-deok, member of the Democratic Party of Korea; Kang Eun-mi, member of the Justice Party; Kwon Eun-hee, member of the People Party; Lee Yong-bin and Lee Hyung-seok, members of the Democratic Party of Korea; Lee Yong-seop, Mayor of Gwangju Metropolitan City; Lee Byung-hoon, Yang Hyang-ja, Cho Oh-seop, and Min Hyung-bae, members of the Democratic Party of Korea; Jo In-cheol, Deputy Mayor for Culture and Economy; Kim Kwang-hwi, Director of Planning and Coordination. Photo by Gwangju Metropolitan City.

In the afternoon of the same day, Mayor Lee Yong-seop held a 'Budget Policy Meeting' with Gwangju area lawmakers at the National Assembly Members' Office Building, requesting their active support and cooperation to resolve major local issues and secure next year's national budget.

The policy meeting was attended by about 20 people, including Mayor Lee Yong-seop of Gwangju Metropolitan City, Gwangju area lawmakers Yoon Young-deok, Lee Byung-hoon, Song Gap-seok, Yang Hyang-ja, Jo Oh-seop, Lee Hyung-seok, Lee Yong-bin, Min Hyung-bae, Kwon Eun-hee, Kang Eun-mi, and Gwangju city officials and department heads, discussing local issues and ways to secure the national budget.

The lawmakers promised, "We will actively play a role hand in hand with Gwangju City to prepare legal grounds for resolving local issues and secure next year's national budget for Gwangju's development."

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