One Year Showing the Possibility of New Hope... Laying the Foundation for 'Gumi Re-Creation'

One Year of Gumi City Administration under the 8th Elected Mayor

Gumi City is changing.

Gumi City Hall.

Kim Jang-ho, who newly took office last year under the banner of the ‘New Hope Gumi Era,’ has transformed the administrative system into one focused on ‘speed’ and ‘results’ within just one year, showing rapid achievements across all areas of city administration.

Emphasizing ‘administration on the move,’ Mayor Kim visited the Seoul Presidential Office, Sejong Government Complex, and Gyeongbuk Provincial Office 38 times last year, covering a total travel distance of 45,600 km (equivalent to 57 round trips between Seoul and Busan).

He also made 37 corporate visits, held 25 sessions of the on-site communication mayor’s office, and conducted 52 “Have you eaten breakfast?” (breakfast meetings), normalizing direct communication with the field and leading city administration with a focus on effectiveness.

As a result, Gumi secured large-scale national projects such as the ‘Defense Industry Innovation Cluster,’ ‘Northeast Region Metaverse Hub Construction,’ and ‘Rural Agreement,’ achieving outstanding results including attracting investments worth 3.79 trillion KRW (214 companies, creating 2,791 jobs).

Inauguration Ceremony of the Defense Industry Innovation Cluster Project Office (June 8, 2023).

Additionally, the city is promoting new national and provincial projects worth 851.2 billion KRW (42 cases), secured 479.4 billion KRW in local allocation tax, and last year entered the ‘2 trillion KRW budget era’ for the first time in Gumi’s history.

Alongside this, Gumi has begun developing signature city festivals, successfully hosting the ‘1st Gumi Food Festival’ and ‘Gumi Ramen Festival,’ and miraculously secured the hosting rights for the ‘2025 Asian Athletics Championships,’ competing against Xiamen City in China with a population of 5 million, drawing domestic and international astonishment.

In January, amid the nationwide risk of collapse in pediatric care systems, Gumi opened the ‘Gumi 365 Pediatric and Adolescent Medical Center.’ As of June, it has responded to nearly 3,000 emergency cases not only from Gumi citizens but also residents of neighboring municipalities, emerging as the center of pediatric emergency care in the Gyeongbuk region.

Support for rural areas has also been remarkable. This year, Gumi allocated a record-high agricultural budget of 148.3 billion KRW, an increase of over 68.4% compared to last year’s 88.1 billion KRW.

Moreover, the city relocated the Gumi Waterworks and Sewerage Office to Seonsan and operates a ‘Mobile Mayor’s Office’ in the Seonsan area at least once a month, demonstrating a strong commitment to balanced urban-rural development.

The civil service organization was also newly reorganized. To enhance urban competitiveness and execution capability, new departments such as Population Policy Division, Future City Strategy Division, Romantic Festival Division, and Public Facilities Division were established. Gumi became the first in Gyeongbuk Province to introduce an important job-based pay system, expanded professional positions (from 17 to 21), and implemented an innovative personnel management system including exceptional rewards for outstanding performers.

As a result, the public institution integrity rating of Gumi City soared last year (from grade 4 in 2021 to grade 2 in 2022). Long-standing and repetitive civil complaints were swiftly resolved, including the remodeling and opening of the Gumi Station underground parking lot, purchase of the Goa-eup pigsty that caused odor problems, expansion of convenience facilities (stores and restrooms) at Nakdong River Sports Park, and free opening of the Geumo Mountain main parking lot during peak seasons.

Especially, with the launch of the 8th elected administration, the ‘Emergency Economic Countermeasure TF’ was activated, promoting various policies directly related to livelihood issues such as shortening the comprehensive permit processing period (reduction rate: 37% in July 2022 → 53.8% in April 2023), supporting small business owners’ card terminal fees, suspending parking enforcement in front of stores, reducing traffic inducement charges and water fees, and special support for youth monthly rent.

Mayor Kim Jang-ho reflected, “The past year was a period of laying the foundation for a leap forward,” and said, “Now, we will accelerate the full-scale reinvention of Gumi City.”

◆ Achievements by Sector

▲ Kept promises within one year of inauguration. Attracted national advanced industry projects and global companies!

At the ‘105th Anniversary Memorial Ceremony of President Park Chung-hee’s Birth’ last November, Mayor Kim expressed his ambition to lead the local era by attracting the ‘Defense Industry Cluster’ and ‘Semiconductor Specialized Complex’ to Gumi City.

Within a year, Gumi succeeded in attracting the ‘Defense Industry Innovation Cluster’ and is highly anticipated to be selected for the ‘Semiconductor Materials and Components Specialized Complex,’ with the final announcement scheduled for July, presenting new development possibilities for the regional industry.

This is especially meaningful as it is the fruit of ‘boots-on-the-ground administration,’ with the mayor continuously visiting the Presidential Office, government complexes, and companies after taking office to emphasize the necessity of designating Gumi for securing a national advanced strategic industry’s super-gap.

These efforts have also led to corporate investments. Including large-scale investments from global companies such as LG Innotek (1.4 trillion KRW) and SK Siltron (1.236 trillion KRW), continuous investments from material, component, and equipment companies?known as the ‘root industry,’ the foundation of all manufacturing?have been attracted, achieving investment attraction results of 3.79 trillion KRW (214 companies, 2,791 jobs created) within one year of the 8th elected administration.

Thanks to this, the first phase of the Gumi National 5 Industrial Complex is virtually sold out (95% occupancy rate), and preparations for the rapid commencement of the second phase are underway.

A year comparable to the previous 12 years, the opening of the 2 trillion KRW budget era in Gumi City

In December last year, Gumi entered the 2 trillion KRW budget era for the first time in history, preparing a budget of 1.8208 trillion KRW for 2023. The final budget for 2022 was 2.05 trillion KRW, an increase of 320 billion KRW in just one year compared to the 1.5 trillion KRW original budget in 2022, marking the largest scale ever and comparable to the total budget increase over the past 12 years (2010?2022) of 350 billion KRW.

Despite this significant budget increase, the city repaid 36.5 billion KRW in local bonds (the highest one-time amount), saving 3.9 billion KRW in interest, successfully achieving both quantitative growth and soundness of finances.

The foundation for this financial growth lies in securing local allocation tax of 479.4 billion KRW, a 57% increase (174.9 billion KRW) compared to the previous year, and the selection of national and provincial projects.

In particular, over the past year, Gumi has discovered new projects across industry, culture, and agriculture, and by being selected for government projects, it has been able to promote 42 new national and provincial projects worth 851.2 billion KRW.

▲ Industrial city dyed with romance. Confirming the potential of local festivals

There were also many achievements in culture and tourism.

Starting with the nation’s first ‘1st Gumi Ramen Camping Festival (Aug 2022),’ the ‘1st Gumi Food Festival (Oct 2022),’ which attracted a record 30,000 visitors on the day of the event, and the ‘2023 Youth, Geumo Mountain Cherry Blossom Festival (Mar 2023),’ held for the first time in the spring season, are representative examples.

The second Ramen Festival this year was selected as the ‘2023 Gyeongbuk Local Festival,’ and the venue was moved from Nakdong River Sports Park to the original downtown near Gumi Station, connecting Gumi Culture Street, Geumridan-gil, and Saemaeul Central Market to increase participation from small business owners and visitors.

The Food Festival is also expected to expand further by linking with the ‘Songjeong Matullim Cultural Street Development Project,’ a 1 billion KRW Gyeongbuk Province public contest project.

Preparations for the ‘2025 Asian Athletics Championships’ are also progressing steadily. As the largest and most prestigious athletics competition in Asia will be held in Gumi, it is expected not only to enhance the city’s global recognition but also to attract various national projects in infrastructure such as roads and sports facilities.

Asia Athletics Championships Hosting Success Meeting (22.12.22.).

▲ Welfare services, renewed and expanded.

Despite a nationwide shortage of pediatric and adolescent specialists, Gumi citizens have no worries about emergency pediatric care.

This is because the ‘Gumi 365 Pediatric and Adolescent Medical Center,’ which deploys dedicated pediatric and adolescent emergency staff from January 1 this year, fulfilling Mayor Kim Jang-ho’s pledge for a ‘seamless pediatric medical care system,’ is operating smoothly.

The ‘Gumi 365 Pediatric and Adolescent Medical Center,’ staffed 24/7 by pediatric and adolescent specialists, has expanded its demand base to residents of neighboring cities such as Chilgok, Gimcheon, and Sangju, emerging as the center of pediatric emergency care in the Gyeongbuk area.

In addition, the city has made every effort to establish a care and childcare policy foundation that fulfills social responsibility for future generations while satisfying the working joy of parents.

First, it piloted the nation’s largest integrated part-time childcare project (27 locations), operates the largest public 24-hour care center in the province (capacity 70), and is gradually expanding village care centers (currently 9 locations) with a goal of 11 locations by 2023.

New veterans’ policies honoring those who have served the nation were also implemented. Spouse allowances for war veterans were introduced, and veterans’ honor allowances were increased by up to 60%, making every effort to establish a culture of veterans’ respect.

New welfare policies are also underway. As part of ‘improving the treatment of social welfare facility workers,’ welfare points are newly provided (100,000 KRW annually for a total of 1,243 people), and holiday leave pay for childcare workers has been increased by up to 30,000 KRW, achieving more social service innovation through customized welfare policies.

▲ Balanced urban-rural development, largest-ever agricultural budget allocation

Due to its nature as an industrial city, investment in rural areas, which have been relatively neglected, is also expanding.

In particular, Mayor Kim allocated a record-high budget of 148.3 billion KRW for agriculture this year and showed strong will for rural revitalization by relocating the Waterworks and Sewerage Office to the Seonsan branch office.

Earlier, to reduce damage from the rice price collapse caused by excessive rice stockpiles last year, the city launched a ‘Rice Consumption Promotion Campaign,’ successfully exhausting the target of 100,000 bags ahead of schedule.

Notable achievements were also made in rural public contest projects. Gumi was selected for the ‘Rural Agreement’ with a total project cost of 45 billion KRW, established a ‘Wheat Industry Valley Pilot Complex (3 billion KRW),’ and secured 2.15 billion KRW for the ‘Gyeongbuk Digital Innovation Agricultural Town,’ increasing agricultural-related national projects by 23.7 billion KRW compared to the previous year.

Additionally, a memorandum of understanding was signed in December 2022 for the long-stalled ‘Establishment of the Korea Food Research Institute Gyeongbuk Headquarters,’ and the opening of a liaison office for rapid project promotion is imminent.

▲ Continued innovative administration focused on ‘results’ and ‘speed’

Strong innovation across all administration was promoted to bring about definite changes desired by citizens.

First, the city directly purchased the Goa-eup pigsty, which had troubled residents with odor for over 40 years, to promote the construction of an agricultural product distribution center, and swiftly resolved long-standing complaints by remodeling and opening the long-neglected Gumi Station underground parking lot.

Also, by operating the on-site communication mayor’s office 25 times, 310 suggestions were received and 266 were reflected in policies (86% reflection rate), striving for administration together with citizens.

Recently, the city abolished on-duty work at city-affiliated institutions excluding the main office such as eup/myeon/dong administrative welfare centers and business offices, centralized situation management and response systems at the main office, reducing costs and improving organizational efficiency.

In addition, every Wednesday at 7:30 a.m., the city holds the ‘Good Morning Wednesday Special Lecture’ (49 sessions) to provide opportunities to enhance the latest trends and expertise in the public service community, injecting vitality into overall administration.

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