Kim San, County Governor of Muan, Takes 'Broad Steps' to Secure National Funding

Visit by Minister of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety... Discussion on Special Grant Support and City (Si) Conversion

(On the right) Kim San, the governor of Muan County, is meeting with Jeon Hae-cheol, the Minister of the Interior and Safety. (Photo by Muan County)

[Muan＝Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Oh Hwanju] Kim San, the governor of Muan County, is continuing his vigorous efforts to secure national funding and resolve pending issues.

Muan County in Jeonnam announced that Governor Kim, following a meeting with Lee Jaeyoung, Vice Minister of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety at the end of last month, visited Jeon Haecheol, Minister of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, on the 26th to request national funding support for special grants projects and the long-standing wish of Muan residents to transition to city (si) status.

The 2022 national treasury support projects discussed that day include two projects aimed at improving residents' safety and living conditions: the Sagyo Disaster Risk Improvement District Maintenance Project (2 billion KRW) and the Ilro-eup Central Area Pedestrian Environment Improvement Project (500 million KRW). The total project cost is 23.7 billion KRW, with a national funding request of 2.5 billion KRW.

For the 2021 special grant support projects, requests were made for funding totaling 10.8 billion KRW out of a total project cost of 58.8 billion KRW across eight projects, including the Namak Steep Slope Collapse Risk Area Maintenance Project (3.7 billion KRW), Cheonggye-myeon Office Building Construction (1 billion KRW), Muan Aviation Specialized Industry Development Project (2 billion KRW), and the Urban Planning Road Pedestrian Path Opening Project in front of Chodangdae in Muan-eup (1 billion KRW).

He also mentioned the positive consideration of the revision to the Local Autonomy Act (draft) that includes the transition of counties (gun) where provincial government offices or provincial councils are located to city (si) status. This bill was proposed in November last year and is currently referred to the 1st Subcommittee of the Administrative Safety Committee.

Governor Kim emphasized the justification for the transition to city status by highlighting that Muan County ranks first in population among counties in Jeonnam and sixth nationwide (excluding counties located in metropolitan cities), and hosts prominent metropolitan institutions such as the provincial government office, education office, and police agency, making it the optimal location to perform the functions of a metropolitan administrative complex city.

Governor Kim San said, “I would like to express my gratitude to Minister Jeon Haecheol for taking the time despite his busy schedule to listen to our county’s pending issues and requests,” and added, “We will focus on residents’ safety and income generation, and devote ourselves to developing future policies and securing national funding.”

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