Gwangju City, 9 Organizations Including National Assembly Members and Civic Groups Sign Citizen Council Agreement

Mayor Lee Yong-seop: "We Will Do Our Best to Ensure the A-teuk Act Amendment Passes the National Assembly"

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] On the morning of the 16th, the citizen council consisting of Gwangju Metropolitan City, local members of the National Assembly, and nine organizations including civic groups held an agreement and signed a pact for joint efforts to normalize the operation of the National Asia Culture Center at the multipurpose auditorium of Jeonil Building 245.

This agreement was prepared to reflect the broad opinions of the local community on the amendment to the Special Act on the Creation of an Asia Culture-Centered City (hereinafter referred to as the Special Act), proposed by Assemblyman Lee Byung-hoon in August, as the time to decide the operation method of the Culture Center, which opened in 2015, approaches. It also aims to support the passage of the amendment bill in the National Assembly, which will be the starting point for normalizing the operation of the Culture Center.

The main contents of the agreement include ▲ joint efforts to ensure the passage of the Special Act amendment bill in the National Assembly for the normalization of the Culture Center’s operation, ▲ agreement on the necessity of succession of tangible and intangible assets accumulated by the Culture Center and the Asia Culture Institute, and securing human and material resources, and joint efforts to ensure that there are no disadvantages in employment succession and working conditions during the operation of the Culture Center after the passage of the amendment bill.

So far, Gwangju City and civic groups have formed a consensus on the amendment to the Special Act through several meetings and established the ‘Citizen Council for the Normalization of the Culture Center Operation’ on the 6th of last month to agree on major issues.

This agreement is meaningful in that it draws conclusions through broad opinion gathering from the local community and can provide momentum not only for the normalization of the Culture Center’s operation but also for the promotion of the Asia Culture-Centered City creation project in the future.

Assemblyman Lee Byung-hoon emphasized, “If the amendment bill to the Special Act is not passed within this year’s session, the Culture Center may fall into a crisis of losing its status as a national institution, so active cooperation from the local community is necessary.”

Park Jong-hwa, representative of the Citizen Solidarity for the Normalization of the Asia Culture-Centered City Creation Project, said, “This agreement has laid the groundwork for the normalization of the Culture Center’s operation,” and added, “We hope the citizen council will continue to cooperate and work together for the normalization of the creation project and the revitalization of the Culture Center.”

Mayor Lee Yong-seop said, “The agreement is significant in that the Gwangju community has formed a consensus on the local community’s awareness of the issues and alternatives regarding the National Asia Culture Center and has raised a unified voice for Gwangju’s future,” and added, “We will do our best to gather strength and wisdom so that the amendment bill can pass the National Assembly as soon as possible, enabling the Culture Center to fulfill its functions and become a place people want to visit.”

Meanwhile, the citizen council participating in this agreement consists of Gwangju Metropolitan City (Mayor Lee Yong-seop), Democratic Party of Korea Gwangju area members of the National Assembly including Assemblyman Lee Byung-hoon, Gwangju Metropolitan Council (Chairman Kim Yong-jip), the 5·18 Democratic Merit Holders’ Association (Chairman Kim Young-hoon), the 5·18 Democratic Movement Injured Association (Chairman Kim Yi-jong), the 5·18 Detained Injured Association (Chairman Moon Heung-sik), the Public Transport Union Gwangju-Jeonnam Branch/Asia Culture Institute Branch (Branch Chief Lee Woo-je), the Asia Culture-Centered City Support Forum (Chairman Ji Hyung-won), and the Citizen Solidarity for the Normalization of the Asia Culture-Centered City Creation Project (Co-Chairman Park Jong-hwa, etc.).

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