Jeong Daeun, Gwangju City Council Member, Criticizes Lack of Transparency in Urban Planning Committee Operations

"Expand Opportunities for Citizen Participation by Making Meetings Public," Calls for Innovation

Jeong Da-eun, a member of the Gwangju Metropolitan Council (Democratic Party of Korea·Buk-gu 2), pointed out the opaque and unfair operation of the Urban Planning Committee. She also argued that the meetings should be made public to expand opportunities for citizen participation.

On the 14th, during a 5-minute speech at the 2nd plenary session of the 1st regular meeting of the 317th session, Councilor Jeong urged innovation in the Urban Planning Committee, including improvements in its composition, diversification of review issues, and public disclosure of meetings.

Jeong Da-eun, Gwangju Metropolitan City Council Member.

She stated, “The reason Gwangju became an apartment city in 2023 is that the Urban Planning Committee, which should be the only check-and-balance body for urban planning and the last line of defense for citizens, failed to fulfill its responsibilities,” criticizing the committee’s operation.

She continued, “Regarding the Urban Planning Committee, which has various controversies such as ▲operating rules and meeting contents not disclosed to the public ▲review issues focused solely on technical aspects ▲different conclusions on similar matters ▲zero rejected review cases in two years ▲endless suspicions of favoritism and collusion, we must appoint committee members who sincerely and professionally dedicate themselves to thoroughly considering Gwangju.”

She also said, “Meetings should be made public so that the people of Gwangju can know exactly what debates lead to urban planning decisions and can timely raise issues or opinions. The city should be planned through diverse discussions for Gwangju’s present and future, beyond interests or technical aspects.”

Furthermore, she added, “Citizens of Gwangju in 2023 want to know whether administrative decisions directly affecting their lives, even if not aligned with their interests, were made through sufficient debate and verification. The future Urban Planning Committee must be a place where all of us collectively think about Gwangju, and we must strive and make efforts toward that.”

Meanwhile, the Gwangju city government currently partially agrees with the issues of the Urban Planning Committee and is reviewing amendments to related ordinances.

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