Pohang Mayor Lee Gang-deok Presents Future Vision of 8th Term Directly to Citizens...Unique Inauguration Ceremony Sparks Interest

Preparing for a More Distant Future and a Greater Pohang, Sustainable Growth and Enhanced Urban Competitiveness

Sharing Urban Visions and Policy Directions in Six Key Areas: Future, Youth, Growth, Society, City, and Culture

Mayor Kang-deok Lee of Pohang explaining the city's vision and policy direction through a presentation.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Dongguk Lee] Mayor Lee Kang-deok of Pohang held a unique inauguration ceremony that broke away from the conventional, monotonous format by directly presenting the city administration’s operational direction in a presentation (PT) style to citizens attending the ‘8th Term Inauguration Ceremony’ held at the Culture and Arts Center on the 1st.

On this day, Mayor Lee shared the achievements of the past eight years of city administration accomplished together with the citizens through photos and graphics while wearing a headset without a microphone, and explained the main policy directions and future vision to lead the development of Pohang in the 8th term.

This inauguration ceremony was filled with a time to express the will to open the future together with citizens, moving away from the traditional stiff and one-sided reading of a declaration.

Reflecting on the past eight years with the citizens, Mayor Lee began, “The 6th term transformed the city from a function-centered city into a green ecological city and laid the foundation for new industries. The 7th term, based on this, not only designated three national special zones but also attracted investments worth 4.3 trillion won in new industries such as secondary batteries and bio, actively fostering new industries.” He then expressed his gratitude to the citizens first, saying, “Thanks to the great citizens who stood with us, we were able to overcome the city’s crises one by one, including the earthquake, COVID-19, and the relocation of POSCO Holdings.”

He continued, “Now it is time to prepare for a farther future and a greater Pohang,” emphasizing, “Based on Pohang’s unique strengths such as world-class advanced science and technology, creative talents, and excellent natural environments including the sea, we will achieve a second economic leap as a city of competitive future new industries, creating an overwhelming gap incomparable to other cities and establishing an unwavering new economic paradigm for the next 100 years.”

The main administrative directions for the 8th term that will open Pohang’s future, as revealed by Mayor Lee, cover six areas: future, youth, growth, society, city, and culture.

‘Future, a sustainably growing future Pohang’ envisions creating a sustainably growing Pohang by integrating beautiful nature and Pohang’s future new technologies. The plan is to increase waterfront spaces where the pristine sea, rivers, and city harmonize, and to upgrade Pohang into a smart city by integrating high-tech technologies, making it a carbon-neutral and eco-friendly green city, and a ‘competitive city where people and capital gather’ with abundant future investment value.

‘Youth, youth with passion and challenge’ envisions a young Pohang created by youth themselves, where young people can passionately ignite their enthusiasm and freely take on challenges. Promises include ▲creating a startup city that generates various youth jobs ▲activating a platform where youth can create their own policies ▲providing conditions to unleash passionate energy for culture ▲and strengthening youth welfare.

‘Growth, new industries with dreams and vision’ is a vision to prepare for the future with advanced technology and create an innovative industrial ecosystem without job worries. It aims to complete the three major new industry ecosystems of batteries, bio, and hydrogen that will ensure sustainable growth, and further create a new 4th industrial revolution model.

‘Society, happy welfare and healthy living’ is a blueprint dreaming of expanding happy sharing and welfare without marginalized groups together with the local community. It plans to minimize marginalized groups through meticulous customized welfare covering all generations and classes, and to complete essential welfare infrastructure such as memorial parks and support centers for the disabled in a way that citizens can empathize with by gathering wisdom.

‘City, a city where nature and people harmonize’ plans to redraw the beautiful marine city with high-tech design. It will create an ‘eco-friendly city in a garden’ through expanding greenways and restoring ecological streams, expand smart urban regeneration based on digital technology in all areas of environment, safety, and transportation, and create an ‘urban marine tourism model’ where both citizens and tourists want to stay, harmonizing nature and technology.

‘Culture, a life where culture and arts bloom’ aims to create a refined advanced culture by establishing high-quality cultural and artistic infrastructure and expanding citizen participation. In line with being the nation’s first legally designated cultural city, it will support enjoying culture, arts, and sports close to daily life, develop high-quality cultural content centered on the Cultural Foundation, and expand cultural infrastructure such as the Opera House and community-based sports facilities.

Mayor Lee Kang-deok of Pohang said, “To achieve this future vision of Pohang, above all, we will lead great unity for regional development by establishing policies for the 8th term together with citizens,” and added, “To actively reflect citizens’ voices in city administration, we will launch the ‘(tentative name) Citizens’ Great Unity Committee’ to open a communication channel to share important policies and issues with citizens.”

He reiterated, “Thus, the 8th term will be created together by gathering the wisdom and strength of citizens,” and concluded the briefing by asking, “I ask all citizens to join us on the journey to create a better future and a greater Pohang.”