Suncheon-si, a Democracy Garden Cultivated by the Voices of Citizens

Innovation in Work Methods - Expansion of Direct Democracy
Our Village by Our Hands - Expansion of Grassroots Democracy
Citizen-Initiated 'Ecological City Ordinance' - Expansion of Participatory Democracy
Hangtong (??) - Start of Ontact Democracy

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Hyung-kwon] To address newly emerging social issues such as low birthrate, aging population, polarization, and job shortages, as well as problems directly related to citizens' daily lives like waste disposal and public transportation improvement, not only central government policies but also responses at the local government level and corresponding autonomous authority and responsibility of local governments are necessary.

South Korea restored local autonomy through local council member elections in 1991 and local government head elections in 1995, and is promoting decentralization by distributing central authority to local governments.

The Moon Jae-in administration established the Local Autonomy Committee and finalized the Comprehensive Plan for Local Autonomy in September 2018 to realize autonomy and decentralization, including establishing a partnership relationship between central and local governments and strengthening local autonomy.

As a follow-up measure, legislation such as the Local Transfer Act and amendments to the Local Autonomy Act are being pursued. Local governments are also striving for administrative innovation centered on resident participation.

▶ Innovation in Working Methods - Expansion of Direct Democracy

During the 7th elected term, Suncheon City set "Together with Citizens, New Suncheon" as its administrative goal, and one of the first initiatives was innovation in working methods.

The plan is to expand direct democracy methods that listen directly to voices from the field and reflect them in policies, transforming the top-down decision-making structure into a bottom-up structure.

For increasingly specialized, segmented, and networked issues with diverse interests, the city expresses its intention not to implement unilateral administrative convenience projects but to seek alternatives and solutions through collective intelligence.

Representative examples include Plaza Discussions, Large Forums, and Starry Night Talks.

Plaza Discussions are forums on current issues that citizens are genuinely interested in, such as measures for the Suncheonman Skycube and improvements to Suncheon City's public transportation. So far, 78 proposals and suggestions have been received over six sessions.

Large Forums discuss administrative issues directly affecting citizens, such as the introduction of local currency and activation plans for planting ten million trees. These are held as needed when issues arise. Four sessions have been held with 10 proposals received.

Starry Night Talks are informal citizen meetings held anywhere. Applications are accepted from groups or small gatherings wishing to have conversations in villages, alleys, apartments, etc., and the meetings are conducted over one night and two days.

A total of 48 Starry Night Talks have been held.

A major achievement is the kimchi-sharing event using salted cabbage from Oeseo-myeon proposed during Starry Night Talks, which was held last November as a grand kimchi-sharing festival with 3,000 volunteers participating, distributing 40 tons of kimchi to over 7,000 neighbors in need.

▶ Our Village by Our Hands - Expansion of Grassroots Democracy

Village communities are small-scale organizations that emerged alongside local autonomy. People involved in village community activities share daily life and have a decision-making structure to solve community problems independently.

Currently, Suncheon City operates 199 communities. Actively operating village communities are also growing into economic communities by establishing cooperatives.

Suncheon City operates three Village Vitality Centers, starting with the Ososo Village Vitality Center in Deokyeon-dong, and plans to establish additional centers.

Separate from village communities, which are voluntary activity groups of residents, there are Resident Autonomy Councils.

Resident Autonomy Councils are a core element of decentralization that guarantees residents the practical exercise of local government authority based on the Local Autonomy Act and local government ordinances.

Based on the experience of eight Resident Autonomy Councils launched last year, Suncheon plans to convert all eup, myeon, and dong (towns and neighborhoods) into Resident Autonomy Councils next year.

To this end, Suncheon operates a public-private consultative body, discussing pilot eup, myeon, dong evaluations and issues arising during operations.

To establish the autonomy foundation of Resident Autonomy Councils, office space, secretary personnel expenses, and self-operation expenses will be supported.

To strengthen the authority of Resident Autonomy Councils, the city is also considering granting deliberation authority in the citizen participation budgeting system and refunding resident taxes. Additionally, amendments to ordinances to expand council membership and establish branches are underway.

Furthermore, through the Village Community Support Center, practical education is supported by opening Village Activist Schools and Resident Autonomy Schools.

▶ Citizen-Initiated ‘Ordinance for Creating a Truly Ecological City’ Enactment - Expansion of Participatory Democracy

On Sea Day last May, 100 Suncheon citizens launched the "Suncheon Ecological City Ordinance Enactment 100-Person Committee."

The enactment of the ecological city ordinance is a model case of the resident direct initiative system, where residents directly propose ordinances to the council.

Citizens initiated this ordinance recognizing that to pass on Suncheon, the ecological city of South Korea, as a sustainable city to future generations, the role of administration must be established and citizens' practical activities and education supported.

The draft ordinance was finalized after detailed legal review and consultation with relevant city departments, and since last month, a citizen signature campaign for ordinance enactment has been underway, with plans to submit it to Suncheon City and the Suncheon City Council in February next year.

▶ Hangtong (??) - Beginning of Ontact Democracy

"There are two dogs barking loudly on the rooftop next door. Please do something about it.", "There is a strong odor coming from the drain!", "Please improve the welfare center programs in our neighborhood!"

These are some of the complaints directly received by Suncheon City through Hangtong over three months starting last May.

A total of 215 complaints were received during the three months, ranging from minor inconveniences to issues requiring mid- to long-term review or those impossible to resolve.

Hangtong is placed in eup, myeon, and dong offices for three days, then immediately transferred to the mayor's office, where the mayor first reviews the content and forwards it to the relevant department.

Hangtong (??) originates from bamboo tubes installed in Joseon Dynasty government offices, allowing commoners to directly convey opinions to local magistrates.

Suncheon created Hangtong as a measure to collect suggestions, complaints, grievances, and compliments after communication with citizens was canceled and face-to-face communication restricted due to the COVID-19 outbreak earlier this year.

It is a communication method suitable for a rural-urban complex city with long travel distances and a large elderly population.

Suncheon plans to hold an Ontact "Suncheon Hope Talk" on the 21st to continue citizen engagement temporarily halted by COVID-19, and next year, it will introduce an Ontact democracy platform as a non-face-to-face communication channel.

▶ Democracy Garden - Education is the most important for improving awareness among future democratic community members.

Suncheon educates citizens on how democracy works and is applied in daily life, not just institutional democracy, through operating Democracy Schools.

Since June, the education program consists of three courses?Democracy School, Democracy Co-governance School, and Democracy Human Rights School?with a total of 15 lectures over three terms. It covers concepts of democracy, conflict resolution and communication methods, and practical ways to practice democracy in daily life.

Most participants are village leaders, Resident Autonomy Council members, village activists, or prospective activists, enabling immediate application in the field. In December, a youth democracy camp will be held to nurture future democratic citizens.

According to the book The Garden of Democracy, the author compares democracy to a garden.

A garden is an ecological network where diverse vegetation coexists, and democracy is the same.

Just as countless flowers bloom in a garden, democracy requires citizens with the will and ability to cultivate the ecosystem of economy and civic power to benefit the majority, not a few.

Citizens are gardeners, and excellent gardeners do not leave the garden "as is."

They take responsibility for their garden through continuous investment and improvement.

To nurture the democracy garden that has begun to take root locally, Suncheon plans to establish a "Citizen Sovereignty Officer" directly under the mayor through administrative reorganization next year.

This officer will be responsible for direct democracy policies, citizen participation tasks, and Jikso (direct complaint) consultation services. The administrative reorganization plan will be finalized after council approval.

Mayor Heo Seok of Suncheon said, "Suncheon was the first city in South Korea to host the 2013 Suncheonman International Garden Expo and is the only city to hold the second 2023 International Garden Expo after 10 years." He added, "The 2023 International Garden Expo, themed 'Living in the Garden,' expands gardens into the city, where urban gardens are cultivated by citizen gardeners."

He continued, "Just as flowers cultivated by citizens grow in urban gardens, I look forward to the day when diverse thoughts of various citizens bloom in the democracy garden promoted by Suncheon City."

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