Jeonnam Governor Kim Young-rok Visits Blue House to Request 'Special Disaster Area Declaration' and Other Issues

[Muan=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Yoon Jamin] Kim Young-rok, Governor of Jeonnam Province, visited the Blue House on the 14th to propose urgent issues such as the designation of special disaster areas.

According to Jeonnam Province, on that day, Governor Kim met with Chief Secretary Yoo Young-min and Senior Secretary for Political Affairs Lee Cheol-hee to strongly request support for major Jeonnam issues, including the declaration of special disaster areas for regions affected by heavy rain and the hosting of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28).

Governor Kim has been actively working with government ministries and lawmakers from both ruling and opposition parties to resolve provincial issues. As a result, significant achievements such as the recent enactment of the Korea Energy Engineering University Act and the passage of the special law on the Yeosu-Suncheon Incident have been consecutively accomplished.

Not stopping there, Governor Kim directly requested a meeting at the Blue House to lead national-level cooperation and support for urgent issues like heavy rain damage recovery and to promptly resolve key issues that have been slow to progress.

The issues proposed by Governor Kim on this day included six items: ▲Declaration of special disaster areas for heavy rain-affected regions ▲Hosting COP28 in the southern coast and southern central region of Jeonnam ▲Improvement of local fiscal decentralization ▲Establishment of a national medical school in Jeonnam ▲Construction of an ultra-high-power laser research facility ▲Amendment of the ‘Special Measures Act on Real Estate Ownership Transfer Registration’.

Governor Kim explained, “As a result of Jeonnam’s proactive proposal to the government during the heavy rain in August last year, eight cities and counties including Gurye, Gokseong, and Damyang, as well as three towns and townships, were designated as special disaster areas within five days of the damage occurrence, enabling rapid recovery and greatly contributing to stabilizing residents’ lives. This time, with heavy rainfall exceeding 531mm in Haenam, and over 400mm in Gangjin, Jangheung, and Jindo, the entire province has suffered extensive human and material damage, requiring swift restoration.”

He further requested, “Please promptly declare special disaster areas so that residents of Haenam, Gangjin, Jangheung, and Jindo counties, who suffered large-scale damage from the heavy rain, can recover as soon as possible.”

He also requested, “To prevent farmers, livestock farmers, and fishermen from suffering due to lack of national support in areas with significant damage to agricultural, livestock, and marine products, the damage assessment criteria should include ‘crops, aquatic products, and livestock.’”

Regarding the hosting of COP28, he stated, “We, along with 2 million residents, warmly support the President’s official declaration at the P4G Seoul Summit in May for Korea’s hosting. Before the COP26 conference in November, which will decide the host country for the 28th conference, the 12 cities and counties in the southern coast and southern central region of Jeonnam and Gyeongnam should be confirmed as the hosting area for policy reasons to secure competitive advantage among countries and to prepare sufficiently for the event.”

In response, Chief Secretary Yoo and Senior Secretary Lee said, “We are discussing various support measures regarding the declaration of special disaster areas and will support with great interest,” and “We will carefully consider whether it is advantageous to decide the hosting area before submitting the COP28 hosting decision document.”

Additionally, Governor Kim directly inspected the heavy rain damage sites and actively identified government support and system improvement measures reflecting the voices from the field, proposing them to the relevant government ministries.

To the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, he proposed ▲Realistic adjustment of disaster recovery support rates for fruit crops and ▲Improvement of the crop disaster insurance system; to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, he proposed ▲Realistic adjustment of disaster recovery rates for marine products and ▲Establishment of compensation standards for abalone seedling disaster recovery.

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