Gwangjin-gu Mayor Kim Seon-gap Election Office Opening Ceremony Held

Gim Seongap, Candidate for Gwangjin-gu Mayor, Declares "I Will Repay Victory with the Achievements and Assets of the 7th Elected Term"

[Asia Economy Reporter Jong-il Park] Kim Seon-gap, a preliminary candidate for the 8th simultaneous local election for Gwangjin District Mayor, who is running for re-election, held an opening ceremony for his election office on the 28th with the attendance of National Assembly members Jeong Cheong-rae, Go Min-jeong, party members, and supporters, marking the official start of his election campaign.

Candidate Kim Seon-gap stated, “Local autonomy ultimately requires budget support, but Gwangjin’s finances have had many structural problems. The solution to these poor financial conditions in Gwangjin was securing external funding,” adding, “Over the past four years, securing about 590 billion won in external funds and achieving the highest budget growth rate among Seoul’s 25 autonomous districts was thanks to the proactive project discovery and efforts of Gwangjin District Office employees. Because the staff worked hard, Gwangjin’s financial conditions were able to turn around,” expressing gratitude to the district office employees for their hard work.

He continued, “For politicians, keeping promises is paramount. At the start of the 7th local government term, I promised 68 projects under 8 major visions, and by implementing 97% of these projects, we received the highest grade for pledge fulfillment from the Manifesto Implementation Headquarters for four consecutive years,” and “Last year, in a Gallup Korea survey on resident satisfaction, we received a high score of 92.2%. I was surprised by the more than 40% increase compared to before the 7th local government term, and I believe COVID-19 was at the center of this. Everyone here worked together to respond to COVID-19, which threatened residents’ lives, and now we have entered the path of daily life recovery. I think these processes led to many residents’ positive evaluations.”

Concluding his remarks, candidate Kim Seon-gap pledged, “However, standing again at the starting line, I still feel personally insufficient. I will continue to listen to your opinions and fill in the gaps as before. With past achievements and assets, I will surely repay with victory together with comrades.”

Candidate Kim Seon-gap served as a member of the Seoul Metropolitan Council and was elected as the 7th Gwangjin District Mayor in the 2018 7th simultaneous local elections with a high support rate of 65.92%, receiving over 100,000 votes for the first time in the district mayor election, leading the district administration for the past four years. Notably, based on his drive to fulfill pledges, he received the Manifesto Promise Award for eight consecutive years as a local council member and, as a head of the district, earned the highest grade (SA) for four consecutive years in the national basic local government pledge fulfillment evaluation, demonstrating trustworthy administration results.

Before the election office opening ceremony, candidate Kim Seon-gap suspended his duties as district mayor on April 15 and completed his preliminary candidate registration. On the 18th at 2 p.m., he held a press conference with party members and supporters to declare his candidacy for the 8th simultaneous local election as the 8th local government term Gwangjin District Mayor.