Gwangju City Secures 3.3081 Trillion Won in National Budget for Next Year

Expectations Raised as Foundation Laid for Solving Local Issues and Leap to Opportunity City

926 Billion Increase Compared to Previous Year... Continuous Communication Proves Effective

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] With the inclusion of 3.3081 trillion KRW in the 2023 government budget for the Gwangju region, a foundation has been laid for resolving local issues and advancing as an opportunity city.

Gwangju Metropolitan City (Mayor Kang Gi-jung) announced on the 26th that it secured 126.7 billion KRW for 67 new projects and 3.1814 trillion KRW for 345 ongoing projects.

This amount is 92.6 billion KRW more than the previous year's national fund allocation of 3.2155 trillion KRW.

Future growth projects such as the artificial intelligence industry, fusion with existing key industries, talent development for semiconductor industry promotion, future mobility, and the Asia Culture Centered City have been reflected in the national budget, which is expected to give more momentum to the “8th term Kang Gi-jung administration.”

This achievement is analyzed to be the result of continuous communication and persuasion by Gwangju City with both ruling and opposition political parties as well as central government ministries including the Ministry of Economy and Finance to secure national funds.

First, the project to create an AI convergence ecosystem stands out.

Funds were secured for the second phase of the AI industry convergence complex planning project (700 million KRW) to build a one-stop support facility from talent development to startup and business growth and global market entry, and for the planning project to establish the Gwangju AI Gifted High School affiliated with Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (1 billion KRW) to complete a solid AI talent development ladder, enabling Gwangju to take a step closer to becoming Korea’s representative AI city.

Additionally, budgets were allocated for ▲AI startup cultivation based on healthcare big data platform (3.23 billion KRW) and ▲AI-based interactive hyper-personalized K-Care welfare service demonstration project (450 million KRW), establishing a foundation for AI medical support service construction and utilization.

Securing budgets for cultural and artistic projects to elevate the status of Gwangju as an Asia Culture Centered City also draws attention.

To leap forward as Asia’s representative character industry city, budgets were allocated for ▲Asia Character Theme Park creation and operation (5.8 billion KRW), for ▲building the operational foundation of the Asia Cultural Technology Demonstration Center to support advanced immersive technology development and commercialization (600 million KRW), for ▲Digital Art Culture Lab establishment and operation (3 billion KRW) to build a world-class media art creation and production lab utilizing Gwangju’s media art infrastructure, and for ▲Suwan Cultural and Arts Convergence Center construction (800 million KRW) to create a space for convergence cultural and artistic content production.

The special account for the Asia Culture Centered City (local government) projects secured 51.4 billion KRW, an increase of 7 billion KRW from last year’s 44.4 billion KRW, marking the largest scale ever.

Budgets for youth care were newly included.

With the secured budget of 1 billion KRW for the construction of the National Gwangju Youth Treatment and Rehabilitation Center to establish a comprehensive support system for counseling, treatment, protection, and independence of youth with emotional and behavioral disorders, comprehensive and professional one-stop services for treatment, protection, education, and independence can be provided to youth in the Honam region (Gwangju, Jeonnam, Jeju).

Budgets were also allocated for local long-standing projects such as ▲expansion of the Honam Expressway section from East Gwangju to Gwangsan IC (1 billion KRW), ▲feasibility study for relocating the Mudeungsan anti-aircraft battery (390 million KRW), ▲new Gwangju Driver’s License Test Center (4.46 billion KRW), and ▲new Gwangju Jungbu Police Station (3 billion KRW), which are expected to accelerate related project progress.

In particular, regarding the semiconductor specialized complex project, a core pledge of the 8th term, budgets were finalized for ▲construction of a visual intelligence semiconductor advanced process fab (1.4 billion KRW) and ▲creation of a public open AI semiconductor demonstration environment project (7 billion KRW).

Mayor Kang Gi-jung of Gwangju said, “In 2023, Gwangju is starting a leap toward a new city as a new economic city leading tomorrow, a city full of fun and vitality, a warm and meticulous care city, a safe city anytime and anywhere, and an educational city where everyone grows,” adding, “Since urgent projects have been reflected in the government budget, please devote all your efforts to making Gwangju an opportunity city that shines tomorrow.”

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