Yun Byeong-tae, Mayor of Naju, "Opening a New Yeongsan River Era with Citizens in 2024"

Yoon Byung-tae, Mayor of Naju City, announced, “In 2024, the Year of Gapjin, we will open a new era of the Yeongsan River together with our citizens.”

In his New Year's address on the 3rd, Mayor Yoon said, “The year marking a new beginning is rising vigorously above Geumseongsan, the main mountain of our city, brightly illuminating the winding waters of the Yeongsan River, the lifeline of Honam and the cradle of Naju.”

He continued, “Over the past year, citizens have likely faced many difficulties due to international instability such as the Russia-Ukraine war, and high interest rates, inflation, and low growth caused by climate change,” adding, “Despite these challenging conditions, I sincerely thank all citizens who have participated in the path of change and prosperity our city dreams of, with hope and faith in their daily lives.”

Furthermore, he stated, “Since the launch of the 8th elected administration, we have been vigorously moving toward a ‘Greater Naju’ through change and innovation, and in the new year, we will finally begin to see the fruits of these efforts one by one,” emphasizing, “We will never stop challenging ourselves to gain more opportunities for citizen happiness and Naju’s development.”

Mayor Yoon conveyed seven major promises.

First, he promised to raise Naju’s value so that everyone can say, ‘Naju has changed,’ and to prepare together with citizens for the era of 5 million Naju tourists.

He pledged to diligently advance toward ‘sustainable agriculture with hope for tomorrow’ by maximizing agricultural competitiveness, and with a sense of mission to create Naju’s food resources for the next 100 years, to steadily realize the vision of Naju as an ‘energy industry-based advanced science city.’

He also explained that the Innovation City will be established as a city with the highest quality of life and a leading model for balanced regional development, to the extent that people will feel ‘the living environment in Naju Innovation City is better than Seoul,’ and that Naju will become a premium educational city sought after for education, turning dreams into reality.

To enable happiness to be drawn in Naju, he emphasized creating a top-tier city where all generations are equally happy through detailed welfare policies, and strengthening ‘communication and companionship’ by engaging closely with citizens in city administration.

Mayor Yoon said, “‘Citizen happiness and Naju’s development’ are the earnest desires of our citizens and goals we must surely reach together,” adding, “There will be many hardships and difficulties on the road to that destination, but we have the great spirit of Naju, a resilience that has turned crises into opportunities and fostered change and development.”

He added, “I will listen humbly, think deeply, and find ways to support the lives of our citizens,” and requested, “For Naju’s shining future, the ‘era of 5 million Naju tourists, and a strong and small global city of 200,000,’ I ask for the unwavering interest and cooperation of our citizens.”

Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Kim Yuk-bong yjm3070@asiae.co.kr

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