Gwangyang City Selects Recipients of Citizen's Award for This Year

Seohyunpil Receives Citizen Award, Park Seonghyeop and Kim Youngil Honored with Proud Gwangyang Person Awards

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Heo Seon-sik] On the 17th, Gwangyang City in Jeollanam-do announced on the 27th that it held a judging committee meeting composed of city council members, representatives of civic groups, and public officials at the city hall situation room, selecting one recipient for the Citizen Award and two recipients for the Proud Gwangyang Citizen Award.

The Citizen Award is given annually to individuals who have significantly enhanced the honor of Gwangyang City or serve as role models for all citizens. The nomination categories include ▲Education and Science ▲Sports Promotion ▲Social Welfare and Environment ▲Regional Development ▲Culture and Public Relations ▲Public Welfare ▲Industrial Economy, totaling seven categories.

So far, a total of 15 people have received the Citizen Award: 2 in Education and Science, 4 in Sports Promotion, 5 in Social Welfare, 1 each in Regional Development and Culture and Public Relations, and 2 in Industrial Economy.

This year, the city selected Seo Hyun-pil (age 71, rural leader) as the recipient of the Citizen Award in the Industrial Economy category.

Since 2001, Seo Hyun-pil has been active as a rural leader for over 20 years, contributing greatly to increasing farmers' income and agricultural development through fostering the rural leaders' organization, agricultural product sales exchange activities with the sister city (Paju City, Gyeonggi Province), capacity-building activities for rural leaders in towns and townships, and practicing scientific farming using specialized techniques. He has also actively participated in community service activities such as supporting childcare foundations and flood recovery efforts.

The Proud Gwangyang Citizen Award, first implemented in 2020, is given to distinguished individuals from Gwangyang who have demonstrated outstanding abilities, contributed to national and social development, and serve as role models for citizens.

The nomination fields include △Culture, Tourism, and Sports △Education and Science △Industry and Economy △Social Welfare and Environment △Public Welfare △Other fields, totaling six categories. This year’s recipients are Park Seong-hyeop (age 67, entrepreneur) in the Industry and Economy category and Kim Young-il (age 62, administrative officer) in the Other fields category.

Park Seong-hyeop, CEO of Seyang Logistics Co., Ltd., signed an investment agreement worth 10 billion KRW with the city and plans to establish a large-scale complex logistics center in the western hinterland of Gwangyang Port. He also attracted an annual cargo volume of 6,000 TEU by importing and exporting petrochemical products from the Yeosu Chemical Complex through Gwangyang Port.

Additionally, he contributed to the development of Korea’s logistics industry by obtaining the country’s first ISO tank container hazardous materials transportation permit.

Kim Young-il, during his time as an investigator at the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, resolved long-standing collective conflict complaints of Gwangyang citizens and mediated the installation of traffic safety facilities on a frequently fatal road section (Yonggang-Dukrye), leading efforts to protect the rights and interests of Gwangyang citizens.

He also supports administrative legal services tailored to citizens’ needs by serving as chairman of the Korea Conflict Mediation Promotion Agency and as an administrative officer, protecting socially vulnerable groups.

Tak Young-hee, head of the Culture and Arts Division, said, “We are pleased that this year’s recipients of the Citizen Award and Proud Gwangyang Citizen Award serve as role models for citizens,” adding, “We hope that many candidates will be nominated in various fields next year as well, fostering patriotism and encouraging participation in city administration.”

The Citizen Award and Proud Gwangyang Citizen Award will be presented at the 27th Citizen’s Day ceremony on October 8.

Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Heo Seon-sik hss79@asiae.co.kr