Yangsan City Selects Recipient of "Yangsan Citizen Award" for First Time in Four Years

The recipient of the "Yangsan Citizen Award," which is given to citizens who have made significant contributions to regional development, has been selected for the first time in four years.

Yangsan City has chosen Yang Sunghui, director of Supsok Kindergarten, as the recipient of the 2025 Yangsan Citizen Award, recognizing her over 17 years of dedicated volunteer work and sharing for neighbors in need within the local community.

Yangsan Citizen Awardee Yang Sunghui, Director of Supsok Kindergarten. Courtesy of Yangsan City

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The Yangsan Citizen Award, which is presented every two years, is highly competitive, with some years passing without a recipient due to the rigorous selection process. In fact, in both 2019 and 2023, despite multiple nominees, the selection committee could not reach the required two-thirds majority vote among attending members, resulting in no award being given.

This year, the 2025 Yangsan Citizen Award Selection Committee, formed for the award process, held two meetings on the 13th and 27th and unanimously selected Yang Sunghui, the sole nominee in the welfare and volunteerism category, as this year's recipient.

Yang Sunghui, born in May 1961, currently operates Supsok Kindergarten in Samseong-dong. Since 2008, she has managed and supported local organizations such as the General Social Welfare Center, the Center for Families with Disabilities, and the Association for the Visually Impaired, consistently volunteering and donating to help marginalized individuals and those in blind spots within the community.

She has also contributed to the community in various roles, including as head of the Women-Friendly City Citizen Participation Group, chair of the Youth Street Advisory Committee, director of the Yangsan Talent Development Scholarship Foundation, and member of the Citizen Integration Committee. These achievements have all been recognized with this prestigious award.

Mayor Na Dongyeon stated, "As mayor, I am extremely proud to have a Yangsan Citizen Award recipient for the first time in four years, and I extend my congratulations to Director Yang Sunghui, the deserving honoree." He added, "For the past 17 years, Director Yang has quietly devoted herself to serving marginalized neighbors in our community, and her spirit of sharing and volunteerism has become a model for all citizens of Yangsan."

He further remarked, "The Yangsan Citizen Award is so prestigious that there are years when no recipient is chosen due to strict selection criteria. This only highlights how outstanding Director Yang's contributions and dedication truly are."

The Yangsan Citizen Award is presented to distinguished citizens who have made remarkable contributions to local culture and regional development. It is awarded every two years in five categories: culture and sports, welfare and volunteerism, regional development, industrial economy, and filial piety.

Since the first award in 1986, including this year's recipient Yang Sunghui, a total of 24 individuals have been honored. This year's award ceremony will take place at the Yangsan Sapnyang Cultural Festival on September 26.

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