Lee Jae-myung Unveils Customized Pledges for 226 Cities and Counties Nationwide... "Change Begins in the Neighborhood"

226 Customized Promises by City and County
Targeting Grassroots Public Sentiment

Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party presidential candidate, is holding a press conference at the central party office in Yeouido, Seoul, on the 26th. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Koo Chae-eun] Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea, launched a campaign targeting 'grassroots public opinion' by creating customized pledges for each of the 226 cities, counties, and districts nationwide on the 4th.

The 'Our Neighborhood Pledges' partially revealed that day are tailored policies detailed down to the basic local government units. These policies were developed over four months starting from October last year through resident opinion collection at the regional committee level and the Maetaverse (weekly livelihood bus) public sentiment listening process.

On the afternoon of the same day, Lee held an 'Our Neighborhood Pledges Unboxing Day' event at the Yeouido party headquarters, stating, "In this era of great transformation, change must begin in the neighborhood." He introduced the 2004 Seongnam Medical Center incident, which marked his entry into politics, saying, "This incident led me to enter politics with the idea of 'delegating authority from residents so that we can change our neighborhood ourselves.'" He emphasized, "The reason such change was possible is that my political beginning was in the 'neighborhood.'"

Lee said, "The start of politics is the region, and protecting the lives of residents in the region must be the top priority," adding, "This is the first presidential election to meticulously manage pledges down to the basic local government unit level."

He also stressed, "Other candidates create pledges by city and province, but metropolitan pledges and Our Neighborhood Pledges are different. What allows people to feel change in their daily lives are the Our Neighborhood Pledges."

Furthermore, he quoted Confucian scholar Toegye Yi Hwang, saying, "'The essence of politics lies in 'Yeomin Dongrak (joy shared with the people).'" He added, "The core of Our Neighborhood Pledges and my philosophy is to carefully refine and return the proposals of local residents."

Lee emphasized, "Having served as mayor of Seongnam and governor of Gyeonggi Province, I understand better than anyone how urgent and important neighborhood development is," and pledged, "With that spirit, I promise the residents of all 226 cities, counties, and districts nationwide."

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