Former Seoul Senior Official Kim Kyung-ho, Gwangjin District Mayor: Why Is He Rated as "Good at His Job"?

Kim Kyung-ho, Former High-ranking Official Known for Effective Work in Seoul, Now Gwangjin-gu Mayor, Gains Attention for Good Evaluations Through Communication with Residents, Organizational Innovation Personnel Changes, and Swift Supplementary Budget for Ordinary Citizens

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Kim Kyung-ho, Mayor of Gwangjin District (photo), is attracting attention for being evaluated as successfully starting the 8th term of the elected government.

Mayor Kim is a former high-ranking public official recognized for his capabilities, having passed the administrative examination and served as the head of the two major departments of Seoul City?Urban Transportation Headquarters and Welfare Headquarters?and even as the first-grade Secretary-General of the City Council.

Moreover, after retiring from Seoul City public service, he completed his term as president of the Seoul Agricultural and Marine Products Corporation, a large public enterprise under the city, and was recruited by Mayor Oh Se-hoon to run for and be inaugurated as the mayor of Gwangjin District in the 8th elected government, now marking his 13th day in office.

Since taking office, Mayor Kim has strengthened communication with residents, earning widespread praise from the community.

Additionally, he has made stable personnel appointments for district office employees, receiving positive evaluations from internal staff as well.

Along with this, Mayor Kim has shown efforts to support the livelihood of ordinary citizens suffering from high inflation by drafting a supplementary budget plan?the first among Seoul’s autonomous districts?demonstrating his commitment to public welfare, earning the reputation of being “a capable public official who knows how to get things done.”

First, upon taking office, Mayor Kim initiated the ‘Meeting Day with the Mayor,’ declaring himself to be the ‘Gwangjin District servant.’ On the afternoon of the 8th at 2:30 PM, the first meeting with the mayor was held in the Gwangjin District Office Planning Situation Room, attended by about ten residents and related officials.

Upon entering, Mayor Kim handed out business cards printed with ‘Gwangjin District Servant Kim Kyung-ho’ to the visitors, opening the first session of the ‘Meeting Day with the Mayor,’ which was scheduled to be held every Friday.

Reflecting Mayor Kim’s commitment from the transition committee period to “listen attentively to even the smallest voices and heed unheard voices as a servant,” he moved quickly to directly hear the voices of the residents.

The open civil complaint office operates twice a week. On Wednesdays, a ‘Civil Complaint Handling Strategy Meeting’ is held, and on Fridays, it is operated as either ‘Meeting Day with the Mayor’ or ‘Civil Complaint Field Visit Day.’ The strategy meeting gathers heads of departments and teams in the mayor’s office to discuss solutions for major complaints received during the week. Based on this, on Fridays, the mayor meets residents who wish to meet or visits related sites.

On this day, Mayor Kim held meetings lasting about 30 minutes each for three complaints. These were the same issues discussed at the ‘Civil Complaint Handling Strategy Meeting’ held two days earlier. The complaints were related to ▲regional housing cooperatives, ▲Jayang 11 Special Planning Zone, and ▲Jayang 1 Redevelopment Promotion District. To resolve these, the relevant department and team heads collaborated closely and communicated actively.

Residents attending the meeting expressed their gratitude, saying, “We thank the mayor for readily arranging such a meeting,” and “Regardless of the outcome, it was very frustrating, but just having the mayor listen to our situation is appreciated.”

On the 12th, Mayor Kim also carried out personnel appointments including promotions and transfers of directors and department heads. For example, Ji Young-soon, head of the Planning and Budget Department, was promoted to Administrative Director. These personnel changes aimed at organizational change and innovation have received positive evaluations.

An employee of Gwangjin District Office, A, commented, “This was the first personnel appointment after Mayor Kim took office, and it seems intended to stabilize the organization and create a working atmosphere. Since Mayor Kim previously served as deputy mayor of Gwangjin District, he was somewhat familiar with the executives, which likely made this possible.”

Alongside this, Mayor Kim attracted attention by drafting a budget that takes care of livelihoods ahead of other autonomous districts, aligning with Seoul City’s supplementary budget for supporting the vulnerable.

Mayor Kim urgently drafted the 2022 second supplementary budget plan amounting to 5.9 billion KRW to respond to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic and the difficult economic situation caused by global high inflation and high interest rates.

This supplementary budget plan totals 5.9 billion KRW, funded by an additional revenue budget of 3.5 billion KRW and 2.4 billion KRW secured through expenditure restructuring.

Of this, 70%, or 4.09 billion KRW, was allocated to urgent livelihood economic measures to counter high inflation and economic recession.

Accordingly, the district will significantly expand the ‘Small and Medium Enterprise Development Fund Loan’ from 3 billion KRW to 5 billion KRW. The loan limit will be raised from 100 million KRW to 300 million KRW to meet the high loan demand of small and medium enterprises and small business owners facing financial difficulties.

As Mayor Kim steps forward to help overcome the hardships of ordinary citizens, he is being evaluated as having made a successful start.

A resident of Gwangjin District, B, said, “Seeing what Mayor Kim, a former senior Seoul City official, has done since taking office, it seems he also has considerable political sense,” and highly praised him as “truly a mayor who knows how to get things done.”

The start of the 8th term of ‘Gwangjin District Servant’ Mayor Kim Kyung-ho is being positively evaluated.

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