[6.3 Election] Jeongseon Lee Declares Policy Alliance with Special Mayor Candidate... Hyungbae Min Says "No Agreement Made"

Jeongseon Lee Unveils Education-Governance Coexistence Vision
Combining His Policies with Hyeongbae Min's Pledges
Hyeongbae Min: "Premature to Announce Alliance Before the Election"

Jeongseon Lee, a preliminary candidate for Superintendent of Education for the Jeonnam Gwangju Special City, has announced a policy alliance and cooperative governance with Hyeongbae Min, the Democratic Party's candidate for Special Mayor.

Jeongseon Lee, a preliminary candidate for Jeonnam Gwangju Special City, is holding an urgent press conference at the Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education briefing room on the 16th. Photo by Minkan Ki

On April 16, Lee held an urgent press conference at the Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education briefing room and unveiled the "Jeonnam Gwangju Education-Governance Coexistence Vision," which combines the core pledges of candidate Hyeongbae Min and his own education policies.

He also stated his intention to actively adopt the policies from the pledges of candidate Youngrok Kim—his rival in the Democratic Party primary—that have high public appeal, thereby officially embarking on a path of "integration and cooperative governance."

During the press conference, Jeongseon Lee emphasized that both his and Hyeongbae Min's policies are rooted in the common philosophy of being "community-centered."

Lee stated, "Candidate Hyeongbae Min's advocacy of sovereign democracy and my 'whole village education community' share the same foundation—namely, that the entire community should help raise children," and he presented three major cooperative governance tasks.

Specifically, these include: ▲ Establishing the "Jeonnam Gwangju-Style Education-Autonomy Integration Model," ▲ Providing care with unlimited responsibility, and ▲ Regularizing town hall meetings for Jeonnam Gwangju education and city governance, as well as holding regular "Jeonnam Gwangju Education Coexistence Meetings" with the elected mayor.

He said, "Through this integration model, we will break down the barriers between schools and the local community," and added, "By combining the municipal government's village autonomy infrastructure with the education office's content, we will turn the entire city into a learning space."

He went on to say, "We will actively adopt candidate Youngrok Kim's pledge to 'narrow the educational gap between regions' and provide equal care services so that no area is left behind," and emphasized, "Regular education coexistence meetings will be held to review the outstanding pledges of various candidates presented during the election process and incorporate them into city and education policies."

Furthermore, he added, "The public sentiment revealed during the election is a mandate to stop conflict and unite solely for the citizens and students," and pledged, "By joining hands with candidate Hyeongbae Min, I will make Jeonnam Gwangju the standard for education in Korea and the best city for raising children."

However, candidate Hyeongbae Min drew a clear line in a phone call with this publication, stating, "There was absolutely no prior discussion about this."

Hyeongbae Min expressed his position, saying, "It does not make sense for a party-affiliated politician to declare an alliance with a particular superintendent of education right before the election."

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