The Only Jeonbuk Figure Among the Inaugural Members of the 2nd Term Committee
[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Geon-ju] Jo Ji-hoon, director of the Jeonbuk Economic and Trade Promotion Agency (hereinafter referred to as Gyeongjinwon), has been appointed as a member of the ‘Presidential Committee on Local Autonomy’ under the President, which supports the Moon Jae-in administration’s decentralization policy. Jo Ji-hoon is the only Jeonbuk appointee among the local autonomy committee members.
According to Gyeongjinwon on the 8th, Jo Ji-hoon’s appointment as a committee member was made through recommendation and resolution by the Democratic Party’s Supreme Council and finalized through personnel screening by the Blue House.
The Local Autonomy Committee is an advisory committee under the President, serving as a comprehensive coordination body for realizing decentralization tasks.
It prepares institutional reform measures to expand local autonomy and strengthen capabilities, and supports the President’s local autonomy policies.
Decentralization was selected as a core task among the Moon Jae-in administration’s 100 national agenda items, and the second-term committee was launched on the 7th.
The committee is composed of subcommittees on local autonomy systems and fiscal and functional transfer. Director Jo serves as a member of the fiscal and functional transfer subcommittee, responsible for the transfer of national authority and affairs to local governments and the reorganization of national subsidy projects.
The chairperson of the Presidential Committee on Local Autonomy under the Moon Jae-in administration is Professor Kim Soon-eun of Seoul National University Graduate School of Public Administration, and the vice-chairperson is Professor Choi Sang-han of Gyeongsang National University Department of Public Administration.
Hong Nam-ki, Minister of Strategy and Finance, and Koo Yoon-chul, Director of the Office for Government Policy Coordination, are ex officio members. The committee consists of three ex officio members and 24 appointed members.
Director Jo graduated from the College of Commerce at Jeonbuk National University and completed a doctoral course in Public Administration at the same university. He served four terms as a member of the Jeonju City Council and was the chairman of the Jeonju City Council.
He has been serving as the director of the Jeonbuk Economic and Trade Promotion Agency since December 2018.
Through 16 years of service as a city council member, he has researched local autonomy and decentralization, and is recognized as an economic policy expert for small business owners and SMEs in the region, including institutionalizing mandatory closures for large retail stores.
In particular, amid recent discussions on creating a social economy ecosystem in the province, he is playing a leading role in the social economy sector as well.
Director Jo Ji-hoon stated, “I feel an immense responsibility upon being appointed as a member of the Local Autonomy Committee,” adding, “The Republic of Korea must expand its future path through strengthening decentralization, and at the center of this, I will do my best in the role given for the development of Jeollabuk-do and the Republic of Korea.”
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