"Give Us Budget to Revitalize Local Areas!" Lee Cheol-woo, Governor of Gyeongbuk, Visits Budget Committee with a 'Plea' Strategy

Chair of the National Assembly Budget Committee, Budget Committee Whip, and Ruling and Opposition Floor Leaders Hold Relay Meetings

Detailed Requests Regarding Gyeongbuk Province's Current Projects

Lee Cheol-woo, Governor of Gyeongbuk Province.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Se-ryeong] “Please drastically reform the framework of the national investment budget. People live south of Chupungnyeong as well. Please focus on budgets that can revitalize local areas beyond the Seoul metropolitan area!”

Lee Cheol-woo, Governor of Gyeongsangbuk-do, visited the National Assembly on the 25th to request an increase in next year’s local budget.

Governor Lee held one-on-one relay meetings with Lee Jong-bae, Chairman of the Budget and Accounts Committee from the People Power Party, Lee Man-hee, Secretary of the Budget and Accounts Committee, Maeng Seong-gyu, Secretary of the Budget and Accounts Committee from the Democratic Party, Kim Ki-hyun, Floor Leader of the People Power Party, and Yoon Ho-jung, Floor Leader of the Democratic Party.

Since early this year, to secure next year’s national funds, they have operated the ‘National Fund Gathering Dream Team T/F Team’ led by Deputy Governor Kang Seong-jo, responding to the Ministry of Economy and Finance, central government departments, and the National Assembly.

A ‘Gyeongbuk Provincial National Fund Support Camp’ has been established in the office of Jeong Hee-yong, a People Power Party member appointed to the National Assembly’s Budget and Accounts Committee, to prepare for the government budget bill’s review in the National Assembly.

Through the meetings, Governor Lee requested cross-party cooperation and support for budget increases to ensure the smooth progress of Gyeongsangbuk-do’s pending projects.

He expressed confidence that the ‘Yeongilman Transversal Section Highway Project,’ a long-cherished regional wish, will have significant tourism effects as a sea bridge and hoped it would be included in the government budget to help overcome the scars of the Pohang earthquake.

Governor Lee also stated, “The Mungyeong~Gimcheon inland railway project has been included in the 4th National Railroad Network Construction Plan,” and requested the inclusion of a new 5 billion KRW in national funds to guarantee the commuting rights of affected local residents and improve their quality of life.

Regarding the ‘Central Line KTX-Eum Cheongnyangni~Andong route,’ he pointed out that having Cheongnyangni Station as the start and end station results in long transfer times to subways and poor accessibility to central Seoul, requesting that the start and end stations be changed to Seoul Station and that 2 billion KRW in national funds be allocated.

He also emphasized the need for 110 billion KRW for the Gimcheon~Geoje Southern Inland Railway, 48 billion KRW for the local government-university cooperation-based regional innovation project, 5.9 billion KRW for the expansion of the Gyeongbuk Bioindustry Complex, and 3 billion KRW for the wide bandgap GaN-based vehicle power semiconductor infrastructure.

Requests were also made for budget allocations including 3 billion KRW for the construction of an inline automatic evaluation center for used electric vehicle batteries, 700 million KRW for the establishment of an insect industry hub complex, 600 million KRW for the personal care convergence alliance development project, 500 million KRW for the Daegu-Gyeongbuk metropolitan railroad between Seodaegu and Uiseong, and 400 million KRW for the construction of the National Nursery Technology Experience Education Center.

Governor Lee Cheol-woo said, “Next year will be the first year of overcoming the COVID-19 crisis and making a new leap forward,” adding, “Gyeongbuk has always stood at the center of Korea during national crises. We will do our best to secure national funds so that Gyeongbuk can lead the overcoming of the COVID-19 crisis as well.”

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