Mayor Lee Yong-seop: "I Will Raise Gwangju as the Future of South Korea"

Revealed at the New Year's Non-Face-to-Face Regular Meeting

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] On the 4th, Lee Yong-seop, Mayor of Gwangju Metropolitan City, held a non-face-to-face regular meeting for the New Year of the Year of the Ox and emphasized, "Despite difficult conditions for two years and six months, we have truly achieved many accomplishments," and added, "In 2021, let us open the AI Gwangju era through innovative administration, communicative administration, and integrity administration."

He continued, "Policies that were unimaginable just two years ago, such as the Gwangju-type jobs, the groundbreaking of Urban Railway Line 2, the AI-centered city, the carbon-neutral energy self-reliant city, and the opening of the Gwangju Free Economic Zone Authority, have become a reality," and expressed gratitude, saying, "This was possible thanks to the innovative efforts of the staff and the support of Gwangju citizens who shine even more in difficult times."

The mayor pointed out, "However, we have not received evaluations commensurate with these achievements," and identified the reasons as "policy lag and insufficient promotional efforts to actively inform the public."

He added, "More communication is needed with the media, civil society organizations, and policy demanders. No matter how good a product is produced, if the demanders do not know or ignore it, it becomes useless," and urged, "This year, please focus all your capabilities on ▲discovering good policies through innovation and communication ▲actively promoting the discovered policies ▲ensuring that the implementation results lead to job creation, income increase, and regional economic revitalization."

Mayor Lee Yong-seop requested that the three major administrative values of the year?‘innovative administration, communicative administration, and integrity administration’?be practiced in daily life.

Regarding innovative administration, he said, "The spirit that runs through the four years of the 7th term of the elected government is ‘innovation’," and asserted, "Even though the world is rapidly changing, if we continue to follow precedents and do not change the way we work, we cannot survive, nor can competitive policies emerge."

He continued, "Innovative administration means active, challenging, and creative administration," and promised, "For the development of Gwangju, I will create an environment where our staff can work actively and challengingly with creativity and expertise without being bound by conventions."

He also declared, "I will change the organizational culture of seniority-based promotion when the time comes," and stated, "We will actively favor employees who lead innovative administration and produce results in personnel and compensation, while not tolerating acts that slowly kill our organization like rust on iron, such as complacency, inertia, omission, or negligence."

Furthermore, he emphasized, "Last year’s performance evaluation results will be actively reflected in personnel and performance bonuses," and added, "We will develop evaluation methods to be more scientific, fair, and transparent so that employees can empathize."

On this day, Mayor Lee Yong-seop stressed communicative administration, saying, "No matter how good a policy plan is, it can never succeed without communication with demanders during policy formation and implementation," and quoted Heo Jun, a famous doctor of the Joseon Dynasty, from Donguibogam: ‘통즉불통 불통즉통 (通卽不痛 不通卽痛)’ meaning ‘When there is flow, there is no pain; when there is no flow, there is pain.’

He added, "Communicative administration is connected with field administration, the answer lies in the field, and seeing once is more important than hearing a hundred times," and urged, "Please strengthen field-centered communicative administration to prevent ‘hit-or-miss desk administration.’"

He also emphasized, "Without integrity, fairness cannot be achieved, and without fairness, trust from citizens cannot be gained," and said, "Innovation and communication without integrity degenerate into collusion for self-interest. Integrity administration is the foundation of all administration."

He noted, "Although we were evaluated as an excellent institution in government innovation and communication evaluations reflecting integrity at the end of last year, our employees’ efforts were greatly undervalued as we received the lowest grade in the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission’s integrity evaluation," and instructed, "Please organize and operate a ‘Task Force for Enhancing Integrity’ at the bureau level to improve integrity."

Mayor Lee Yong-seop said, "Together with you, with the attitude of 응변창신 (應變創新, adapting and innovating), we will take the lead in change and pioneer a new path to make 2021 a ‘time of Gwangju’ that no one can follow," and emphasized, "The era of survival of the fittest has passed; now is the era where innovation is necessary to survive. Through innovation, we will set the basics right and establish Gwangju as the future of the Republic of Korea."

He also said, "We will make Gwangju a city where people return instead of leaving due to lack of jobs, a safe city from various infectious diseases, disasters, and accidents, and a proud city where our children can say ‘I live in Gwangju’ anytime and anywhere," and added, "This is only possible with the active participation of staff and the trust of citizens in the administration."

Mayor Lee Yong-seop urged, "1% of individualism is threatening the safety of 99% of citizens," and ordered, "Please respond strongly with a zero-tolerance policy toward violations of COVID-19 quarantine rules."

He stressed, "We must not overlook the irresponsible and careless actions of medical staff and workers who should lead by example in complying with quarantine rules, which threaten the lives and safety of the elderly," and said, "If administrative order violations are confirmed through epidemiological investigations, strong measures such as prosecution, fines, and facility operation suspension orders must be taken."

He added, "It is a time when firm response to 1% irresponsibility and selfishness is absolutely necessary to protect 99% of Gwangju citizens," and concluded, "We must gather all the capabilities of the local community with the highest tension to respond to COVID-19."

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