Mokpo Mayor Kim Jongsik, Full Effort to Secure Next Year's National Budget

Visited National Assembly to meet with Standing Committee and Budget Committee members... Proposed budget inclusion for current projects

Kim Jong-sik, Mayor of Mokpo (right), visiting National Assembly member Shin Jeong-hoon (left) to secure national funding for next year. Photo by Mokpo City

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Seung-hyun Jeong] Kim Jong-sik, mayor of Mokpo, Jeollanam-do, is making every effort to secure national funding for next year.

On the 10th, Mayor Kim visited the National Assembly and held successive meetings with Seo Sam-seok, member of the Agriculture, Forestry, Livestock, Food, and Maritime Affairs Committee, and Shin Jeong-hoon, member of the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts, requesting support for key priority projects that need to be increased during the National Assembly's review stage.

The priority projects for which national funding was requested include ▲ Strengthening the capacity of the Fisheries Food Industry Hub Complex (1 billion KRW) ▲ Expansion of the North Port fishing vessel wharf (10.5 billion KRW) ▲ Rapid support for on-site technical difficulties of shipbuilding and equipment companies (3.5 billion KRW) ▲ Support for the Korea Island Promotion Agency (2 billion KRW).

In addition, Mayor Kim proposed that the entire 849.9 billion KRW reflected in next year's government budget be fully incorporated by the National Assembly without any cuts.

The project to strengthen the capacity of the Fisheries Food Industry Hub Complex is essential for national funding to strategically foster the high value-added fisheries food industry by utilizing the infrastructure of the fisheries food hub complex, expanding opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises to enter overseas markets, and early activation of the fisheries food export complex currently under development.

The North Port fishing vessel wharf expansion project requires an increase in funding to ensure early completion due to the relocation of the Mokpo Fisheries Cooperative and the transfer of harbor functions to the North Port.

Furthermore, Mayor Kim also requested maintaining the existing government proposals for the fisheries food export complex construction (30 billion KRW) and the establishment of the Western Maintenance Center of the Korea Coast Guard (53.8 billion KRW).

Mayor Kim stated, “I have made great efforts to ensure that key projects are reflected in the government budget. Together with National Assembly member Kim Won-i, I will do my utmost to persuasively explain the necessity and importance of these projects so that major pending projects can be maximally reflected during the National Assembly's review.”

Meanwhile, the government budget proposal for next year submitted to the National Assembly will be finalized in early December after review, the Budget and Accounts Special Committee, and plenary session approval.

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