Publication Event for "Lee Gaeho Is Ready" to Be Held in Gwangju on the 22nd

From Front-Line Local Administration to Four-Term Lawmaker, Minister, and Policy Chief
Publication of a Policy Vision Book Tracing 45 Years of Public Service
Toward an Integrated Jeonnam-Gwangju Special City...“Blueprint for the Next 100 Years”

Announcement: Book Launch Event for Lee Gaeho. Provided by the office of Lee Gaeho.

Four-term National Assembly member Lee Gaeho of the Democratic Party (representing Damyang, Hampyeong, Yeonggwang, and Jangseong) is presenting a new set of policy initiatives for the next 100 years of Jeonnam and Gwangju, drawing on experience proven across the full spectrum of state affairs, from front-line local administration to the Presidential Transition Committee, a central government ministerial post, and chairmanship of the Democratic Party’s Policy Committee.

On February 22, Lee will hold a publication launch event for his policy vision book, “Lee Gaeho Is Ready - Vision and Blueprint for the Special City of Jeonnam-Gwangju,” at the Kimdaejung Convention Center in Gwangju.

This book is not a self-promotional memoir of a politician typically published ahead of an election. It is a practical policy report that, based on 31 years of public service and 14 years of legislative activity, offers clear solutions for how Honam should move forward in the face of population decline and the risk of regional extinction.

The book argues that Jeonnam and Gwangju must break away from the survival-of-the-fittest mindset trapped within administrative boundaries and build “Jeonnam-Gwangju Special City,” a wide-area megacity that integrates administration and the economy into one.

First, over seven chapters, it presents concrete solutions for turning the region into a central axis of balanced national development: an Energy-AI Grand Transition that combines Jeonnam’s renewable energy with Gwangju’s cutting-edge AI infrastructure; advancement of traditional key industries (petrochemicals, steel, and shipbuilding) that are facing crisis; and expansion of ultra-wide-area transportation networks through the Dalbit Railway and high-speed rail networks.

The reason the grand roadmap laid out in this book does not sound like mere slogans is that the results of Lee’s 45 years of “pragmatic, evidence-based governance” in the field and at the center of state affairs form a solid backbone supporting that vision.

As Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, he reformed the structure of agricultural policy, including stabilizing rice prices. In the National Assembly, he pushed through the introduction of the Hometown Love Donation Program and the Essential Agricultural Inputs Support Act, successfully establishing them as national systems.

In particular, during his tenure as chair of the Democratic Party of Korea’s Policy Committee, working in close step with Party Leader Lee Jaemyung, he demonstrated outstanding policy capabilities by spearheading core livelihood pledges that people could feel in their daily lives, such as including caregiver fees at long-term care hospitals under health insurance coverage, providing weekday lunches five days a week at senior centers, and implementing comprehensive countermeasures for low birth rates, thereby contributing to a landslide victory in the general election.

This book is, in effect, a practical future guide for Jeonnam and Gwangju, written and nurtured by Lee’s solid 45 years of experience in state affairs.

Senior figures who led the leap forward of the Honam region have also, in an unusual show of unity, rallied behind Lee’s capabilities.

Four former mayors and governors — former Jeonnam Governors Heo Gyeongman and Park Junyoung, and former Gwangju Mayors Park Gwangtae and Kang Woonthaek — all lent their support by contributing recommendation messages.

They expressed firm support for Lee, calling him “a figure with the insight to see through both the realities of local regions and the grand currents at the center.”

In a statement on the publication, Lee said, “The only method I have learned in 45 years of public service and politics is to never give up, no matter the obstacles, but to hold on until the end and ultimately produce results. I will pour all the capabilities I have built up through intense work at the center and in the field into that historic task of uniting Jeonnam and Gwangju into one, and devote the remainder of my political vocation entirely to it.”

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