U Dong-gi, Chairman of the National Balanced Development Committee, Visits Gyeongnam for a Special Lecture on the Local Era

Woo Chairman "Era of Local Autonomy with Fairness, Autonomy, and Hope"

Governor Park Wansu "Cooperation on National Policy Direction and Proactive Response"

Woo Dong-gi, Chairman of the National Balanced Development Committee, visited the Gyeongnam Provincial Government Office on the 24th.

Gyeongsangnam-do announced that it invited Chairman Woo to hold a special lecture titled "Vision and Strategy for the Local Era under the Yoon Suk-yeol Administration."

According to the province, the special lecture was organized to share the direction and philosophy of the government's balanced development policy following the adoption of "A Local Era Where It Is Good to Live Anywhere in Korea" as a national agenda in December last year, and to lead a successful local era with Gyeongnam taking the initiative.

The lecture was attended by about 400 people, including Governor Park Wan-su, Vice Chairmen Choi Hak-beom and Kang Yong-beom of the Gyeongsangnam-do Provincial Council, members of major provincial committees, the provincial office of education, city and county officials, local universities, and affiliated institutions.

Governor Park Wansu of Gyeongnam Province is delivering a greeting at the special lecture hosted by Woo Dong-gi, Chairman of the National Balanced Development Committee.
[Photo by Gyeongnam Provincial Government]

Governor Park said, "The Yoon Suk-yeol administration places greater emphasis on local decentralization and balanced development policies than any previous government, and Chairman Woo Dong-gi symbolically represents this."

He added, "I hope that the Local Era Committee to be launched soon will successfully promote the establishment of opportunity development zones, education freedom zones, and the second relocation of public institutions," and said, "Gyeongnam Province will actively cooperate with and proactively prepare for the national policy direction aimed at realizing local decentralization and balanced development."

Woo Dong-gi, Chairman of the National Balanced Development Committee, is giving a special lecture at the Gyeongnam Provincial Government Office.
[Photo by Gyeongnam Provincial Government Office]

On the day, Chairman Woo gave a lecture on the current realities of regions, the balanced development policies of past governments and their limitations, the direction of the local era promoted by the Yoon Suk-yeol administration, and the core tasks for the local era.

He pointed out that although past governments tried to prevent concentration in the metropolitan area, they failed to achieve significant results due to structural limitations such as the concentration of knowledge, information, headquarters of large corporations, and high-level functions in the metropolitan area, as well as policy limitations including centralization and lack of consistency and sustainability.

"The Yoon administration has identified strengthening local autonomy and financial capacity, educational innovation and revitalization of local universities, and relocation of metropolitan public institutions as core tasks for the local era," he said.

He concluded the lecture by saying, "We will open a fair, autonomous, and hopeful local era where equal opportunities are enjoyed regardless of where one lives by resolving regional imbalances through legal revisions, establishment of a comprehensive local era plan, improvement of the special account for regional balanced development, and promoting regional specialized development and local autonomy."

After the special lecture, a Q&A session regarding the government's balanced development policy followed.

A provincial official said, "The large attendance at this special lecture proved the strong interest in regional balanced development and the local era within the province," and added, "Since the adoption of the regional balanced development national agenda, our province has been steadily working to open a successful local era by visiting relevant central government departments for consultations to designate pilot areas for opportunity development zones and education freedom zones, and to attract the second relocation of public institutions within the province."

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