Heo Seok, Mayor of Suncheon, Shows Remarkable Efforts in Securing National Funds During Visit to the National Assembly

Recommendation for Prompt Enactment of the Yeosun Incident Special Act and the Garden Expo Special Act, Request for Current National Budget Support

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Hyung-kwon] Suncheon City, Jeollanam-do announced on the 25th that Mayor Heo Seok visited the National Assembly to discuss major local projects and request national funding support.

Mayor Heo Seok met directly with Song Young-gil, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, and lawmakers So Byung-chul, Seo Sam-seok, Seo Dong-yong, and Lee Hyung-seok the day before to explain seven new core projects worth 380 billion KRW planned for next year, gaining consensus. He also requested the prompt enactment of the "2023 Suncheonman International Garden Expo Support Special Act" and the "Yeosu-Suncheon October 19 Incident Special Act," which are currently under discussion in the National Assembly.

The major core projects for which Mayor Heo requested national funding include ▲Construction of the Jeonnam Digital Animation Center (30 billion KRW) ▲Village sewage pipeline maintenance project (30 billion KRW) ▲Creation of the National Mudflat Marine Garden (250 billion KRW) ▲Suncheonman Bridge Garden and Ecological Garden Street creation (31 billion KRW) ▲Korean Peninsula Crater Garden creation (20 billion KRW) ▲Suncheon Bonghwasan Forest Play Zone creation (10 billion KRW) ▲K-Miracle Healing Center creation (10 billion KRW).

Leader Song Young-gil expressed agreement with the major projects and promised to support the smooth progress and successful hosting of the 2023 Suncheonman International Garden Expo, which is less than two years away, and to help expedite the enactment of the special law for the Yeosu-Suncheon October 19 Incident to clarify the truth and restore the honor of the victims.

The Yeosu-Suncheon Incident Special Act is currently submitted to the National Assembly’s Public Administration and Security Committee and is awaiting plenary session review, while the Garden Expo Support Special Act is submitted to the Agriculture, Food, Rural Affairs, Oceans and Fisheries Committee and is awaiting review by the bill subcommittee.

To secure national funding for next year, Mayor Heo also gained consensus by meeting with Koo Yoon-chul, Director of the Office for Government Policy Coordination, Ahn Do-gul, 2nd Vice Minister of Strategy and Finance, and Park Wan-joo, Chairman of the Democratic Party Policy Committee on the 18th. On the 3rd, he directly visited key ministries including the Korea Forest Service, Ministry of Strategy and Finance, Ministry of the Interior and Safety, and Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to request national funding support.

Since February, the city has actively worked to secure next year’s national budget by having Vice Mayor Lim Chae-young and all department heads visit Jeollanam-do and relevant ministries to make requests.

Mayor Heo’s broad efforts to promote these projects are evaluated as successfully discovering national projects that combine ecology and culture suitable for the ecological capital Suncheon, such as marine garden creation, ecological street creation, forest garden creation, and digital new deal project development, thereby drawing significant interest and consensus from central government ministries and the National Assembly.

Mayor Heo Seok of Suncheon said, “Without differentiation, competitiveness, passion, and effort, it is difficult to secure government budgets. We will continuously visit Jeollanam-do, central government ministries, and the National Assembly with logical strategies aligned with central government policies to build consensus on the projects, and work united with local lawmakers to make every effort to secure national budget for next year’s key projects.”

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