Three-Term Busan Gijang County Governor: "The County Flag Is Not the Governor's Personal Property, It Symbolizes History and Identity"
County Council, "If the Governor Changes, the County Flag Could Change Again" Pushes Ahead with Budget Cut for Si
[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] “If the head of a local government changes, can’t the ‘flag (gi)’ be changed too?” “Then, if the president changes, do they change the national flag as well?” Due to the term of office of the head of a basic local government, a farcical situation has arisen where a signboard guiding the government office cannot be installed on the road in front of the office building.
Targeting the county governor who is in the last term of his third tenure, the county council cut the related budget on the grounds that “the next county governor can change the county flag (gun-gi),” leading to an absurd backlash from the current county governor.
The incomprehensible misunderstanding that regards the ‘county flag (gun-gi)’ as the ‘county governor’s flag (gunsu-gi)’ occurred in Gijang-gun, Busan. The budget for the signboard guiding the government office was not cut due to other reasons such as budget cuts or shortages.
During the review process of the first supplementary budget of this year held on the 25th, the budget for installing a signboard in front of the Gijang County Office was finally cut. While almost every district and county has such signboards, Gijang-gun currently does not have one.
It is known that some county council members raised the opinion, “If the county governor changes, can’t the county flag (gun-gi) be changed as well?” which eventually led to the budget cut.
The signboard includes the institution’s name and the county flag. Instead of considering new symbols of the local government and residents’ sentiments, the term of the county governor became an obstacle to installing a signboard guiding the government office.
County Governor Oh Gyu-seok strongly opposed this and expressed his position.
Governor Oh said, “This is not understandable in common sense. The county flag cannot be changed arbitrarily by the county council. The county flag symbolizes the history and legitimacy of the county. It makes no sense to say that the county flag will be changed just because the county governor is about to change.”
Governor Oh also stated, “Symbols representing Gijang-gun such as the county flag (gun-gi), county flower (gun-hwa, azalea), county tree (gun-mok, Korean red pine), county bird (gun-jo, seagull), and county fish (gun-eo, anchovy) should remain as long as Gijang-gun exists,” adding, “It is the same as not changing the Taegeukgi or the national flower, the mugunghwa, even if the president changes.”
Gijang-gun enacted the ‘Busan Metropolitan City Gijang-gun County Flag Ordinance’ during the first term of Governor Oh Gyu-seok in 1995 and used the county flag selected through a public contest. However, the newly elected former Governor Choi Hyun-dol amended the ordinance in 2000 and changed the county flag.
Afterwards, when Governor Oh was re-elected, the ordinance was amended again in 2010 to restore the county flag used in 1995, which has been in use ever since.
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