Joo Ki-hwan, Chairman of the Gwangju Party Committee of the People Power Party, Hustles to Secure Budget for Local Issues

Meeting Between Ruling and Opposition Parties to Request Support

Joo Ki-hwan, chairman of the People Power Party Gwangju Metropolitan City Committee, is conducting all-out efforts to secure national budget funds necessary for advancing Gwangju's key projects in 2024.

According to the People Power Party Gwangju City Committee on the 3rd, Chairman Joo met sequentially the day before with Kim Ki-hyun, the party leader of the People Power Party, Yoon Jae-ok, the floor leader, Lee Man-hee, the secretary-general, Lee Gae-ho, the policy committee chairman of the Democratic Party, and Seo Sam-seok, the budget and accounts committee chairman.

He explained the necessity and justification of local key projects and requested support for securing national funds at the party and National Assembly levels, receiving positive responses.

Joo Gi-hwan, Chairman of the Gwangju Metropolitan City Party Committee of the People Power Party (right in the photo), is explaining the current issues in the Gwangju area to Lee Gae-ho, Chairman of the Policy Committee of the Democratic Party of Korea.
[Photo by People Power Party Gwangju City Party]

In particular, the People Power Party leadership and the Democratic Party policy committee chairman and budget committee chairman agreed to actively cooperate in reflecting the project cost (14 billion KRW) necessary for establishing a super-large artificial intelligence (AI) customized data preprocessing and demonstration infrastructure in Gwangju in next year’s government budget.

Chairman Joo stated, “As uncertainties both domestically and internationally deepen, the need for sound fiscal management is more urgent than ever,” and emphasized, “While maintaining the government’s sound fiscal policy, please ensure that budgets essential for regional development, such as AI projects, are included.”

Party leader Kim Ki-hyun and floor leader Yoon Jae-ok said, “Since the People Power Party Gwangju City Committee and Gwangju City have communicated and expressed their opinions, we will actively take care of it.”

Lee Gae-ho, policy committee chairman of the Democratic Party, and Seo Sam-seok, budget committee chairman, also expressed sympathy for Gwangju’s issues and emphasized cooperation at the Democratic Party level.

Policy committee chairman Lee said, “The Democratic Party is also interested in Gwangju’s AI projects and will actively cooperate,” and budget committee chairman Seo said, “Since this is an issue agreed upon by Joo Ki-hwan, chairman of the People Power Party Gwangju City Committee, and Lee Gae-ho, policy committee chairman of the Democratic Party, we will do our best for the urgently needed budget.”

The People Power Party Gwangju City Committee plans to propose special grants to Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min to secure special grants for the five district offices of Gwangju, separate from the national budget support projects.

Gwangsan District requested the Gwangju City Committee to support ▲ the project cost (800 million KRW) for connecting the disconnected section of the bicycle road from Songsan Amusement Park to Seobong District, ▲ the flood damage prevention project (100 million KRW) from Banchon in Sinchang-dong to Maegyeol Village, and Seo District requested support for the sidewalk maintenance project (500 million KRW) around Kia Motors Gwangju Plant 2.

The People Power Party Gwangju City Committee plans to collect major pending projects from the remaining district offices and propose special grant support to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety.

Chairman Joo Ki-hwan of the Gwangju City Committee said, “We will actively communicate with Gwangju City and the five district offices to solve local problems,” and added, “Although it is a tight fiscal situation, we will do our best to secure the necessary project budgets.”

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