Naju-si Successfully Concludes Full Meeting of Private Joint Committee

[Naju=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yukbong] On the 11th, Naju City in Jeollanam-do announced that it held a full meeting of the Standing Committees of the Private Joint Committee on Leading Policy Tasks including Yeongsangang River, Geumseongsan Mountain, Metropolitan Railroad, Safety City, and Mahan History in the main conference room of the city hall on the 10th.

At the meeting, joint chairpersons of each committee attended, including Chae Jeong-gi, Standing Co-Chairman of the Private Joint Committee (Geumseongsan Committee), Jeon Seung-su, Honorary Professor of the Department of Earth Environment Science at Chonnam National University, and Choi Song-chun, Co-Chairman of the Mokpo Environmental Movement Federation (Yeongsangang Committee).

Also present were Kim Jong-il, Invited Researcher at the Gwangju-Jeonnam Research Institute and Head of the Leading Policy Task Force, Na Sang-in, Director of the General Affairs Bureau of Naju City, Lee Jin, Director of the Future Strategy Business Bureau, Jeong Seok-gyu, Director of the Safety City Construction Bureau, and about 10 heads of relevant departments, who gathered to discuss.

The full meeting reviewed the status of leading policy tasks promoted by the five standing committees since the launch of the Naju Citizen-Government Joint Committee on October 20, 2020, and decided to deliver policy proposals to each presidential candidate through advisory and discussions by each committee for incorporation into national policy agendas.

The meeting proceeded in the order of greetings by the standing and joint chairpersons, reports on the progress of leading policy tasks, plans for adoption of national policy agendas, and commemorative photo session.

The leading policy tasks of Naju City are large-scale policy projects established to address long-neglected regional issues in local history and culture, ecological environment, and industry and economy.

These policy tasks consist of 15 medium- and long-term projects across five major policy areas, including adoption of the Yeongsangang River ecological restoration as a national policy agenda, designation of Geumseongsan as a provincial park and relocation of military units, complete removal of landmines buried in Geumseongsan, cancellation of the designation of Sanpo emergency runway, relocation of the Gwangju Radio Management Office, Slow City certification, and establishment of a metropolitan railroad network (circular type) between Gwangju and Naju.

Chae Jeong-gi, Joint Standing Chairman, said in his greeting, “I thank the committee members and public officials who have worked together to promote the leading policy tasks since the launch of the Private Joint Committee. We will deliver four policy tasks currently being promoted as national policy agendas by the Private Joint Committee to each presidential candidate.”

With the 20th presidential election about a month away, the Naju Citizen-Government Joint Committee plans to deliver four tasks?‘National Estuary (Yeongsangang River) Ecological Restoration,’ ‘Restoration of Mahan History,’ ‘Establishment of a Metropolitan Railroad Circular Network between Gwangju and Naju,’ and ‘Complete Removal of Landmines in Rear Areas (Geumseongsan)’?to each presidential candidate’s campaign.

According to reports on the progress of each task, the Yeongsangang Committee held several committee meetings and a nationwide forum for ecological restoration of the four major rivers’ national estuaries (last November).

In particular, on the 7th, the Yeongsangang Committee led the launch of the ‘National Estuary Ecological Restoration National Meeting for Adoption as a National Policy Agenda,’ composed of 317 institutions and social organizations nationwide. They delivered national policy proposals to each political party’s presidential candidate camp, including relocation of intake and discharge stations in tidal flat sections at the national level, enactment of a special law for national estuary ecological restoration, and establishment of a national integrated water management center by watershed.

The Mahan History Committee discovered 10 projects worth 880 billion KRW related to the development of the Mahan historical and cultural area, including the establishment of the (tentative name) National Mahan History and Culture Center, aiming to overcome policy bias centered on the history of the Three Kingdoms and Gaya and to establish the identity of Mahan history as national policy proposals.

Following the promulgation of the amendment to the Special Act on the Maintenance of Historical and Cultural Areas on January 18 this year, which expanded the scope of Mahan history from the Yeongsangang watershed area in Jeollanam-do to Chungcheong, Gwangju, Jeollanam-do, and Jeonbuk regions, the committee plans to strengthen solidarity and cooperation among these regions.

The Metropolitan Railroad Committee proposes the establishment of a 42.3 km ‘Metropolitan Railroad Circular Network between Gwangju and Naju.’

Previously, in July last year, a 28.1 km railroad section connecting Gwangju and Naju with a total project cost of 1.8593 trillion KRW was included in the 4th National Railroad Network Construction Plan.

The committee decided to focus all efforts on securing project momentum and financial resources for early commencement of the confirmed Gwangju-Naju metropolitan railroad section, selected as one of the five leading projects in the national railroad network construction plan, and on adoption as a national policy agenda.

Additionally, the 14.2 km section from Yeongsanpo to Pyeongdong Station, corresponding to the second section, will be included in the national policy proposals to be reflected in the national railroad network construction plan later.

As part of the designation of Geumseongsan as a provincial park, the removal of anti-personnel landmines has been carried out six times so far, removing 1,719 out of 1,771 buried landmines.

Currently, 52 landmines remain to be removed.

The Geumseongsan Committee has held joint press conferences urging landmine removal at Geumseongsan from the perspective of public-private governance since April last year, joint legislative forums with members of the National Assembly’s National Defense Committee, and nationwide forums jointly with local governments where landmines are buried, such as Busan Haeundae-gu, Ulsan Buk-gu, Hwaseong-si in Gyeonggi, and Boseong-gun, to adopt complete removal of landmines in rear areas as a presidential election national policy agenda.

In line with the proposal of the Basic Act on National Landmine Response in August last year, the committee plans to propose as a national policy agenda the complete removal of landmines to lift landmine zones, introduction of the International Mine Action Standards (IMAS), establishment of a dedicated organization, and legislation for safe removal of landmines in rear areas.

Naju=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yukbong bong2910@asiae.co.kr

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