‘Running for Supreme Council Member’ Song Gap-seok Resigns as Gwangju City Party Chairman on the 15th

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Jin-hyung] Song Gap-seok, chairman of the Gwangju City Party Committee, who declared his candidacy for the Democratic Party of Korea's Supreme Council member, announced on the 15th that he will resign from his position as city party chairman in accordance with the Democratic Party's regulations before registering as a candidate.

Chairman Song said, "I sincerely thank the citizens of Gwangju and party members who have led the Gwangju City Party together with generous support and healthy criticism over the past four years," adding, "As the Supreme Council candidate representing Honam, I will devote myself fully to ensuring my election so that Gwangju's strong desire to regain power can spread nationwide and be realized."

He continued, "Although I am stepping down from the city party chairman position, the journey of tackling numerous challenges directly related to regional development together with the Gwangju community will continue," emphasizing, "I will support the next city party chairman wholeheartedly so that they can successfully lead the Gwangju City Party."

Since August 2018, Song, who served as the only ruling party lawmaker from Gwangju in the 20th National Assembly and held the city party chairman position, was reappointed in the 21st National Assembly and has actively resolved major regional issues during his total four-year term.

Notably, he led the passage of the '5·18 Three Laws' in the National Assembly, including the Special Act on the Truth Investigation of the May 18 Democratic Uprising and the Act on Punishment of Distortion of May 18 History, which were pledges of the 21st general election Gwangju City Party.

He also played a decisive role as the ruling party secretary of the Industry, Trade, Energy, Small and Medium Venture Business Committee in passing the Korea Energy University Act, enabling the Korea Energy University to open as scheduled in March 2022.

Other achievements include budgetary and legislative successes for the Gwangju-type job creation law, normalization of the operation of the Asia Culture Center City, and the successful hosting of the Gwangju World Swimming Championships, which are among the major wishes of Gwangju citizens.

Furthermore, he presented a new blueprint for Honam's development by actively promoting 'RE300,' the first economic community project in Honam involving the Democratic Party and local governments of Jeonnam, Jeonbuk, and Gwangju.

He also carefully managed policies for each district through active communication with government ministries, including the selection of Gwangju Seo-gu as an 'Urban Convergence Special Zone,' Buk-gu's 'Gwangju Social Economy Innovation Town,' designation of economic free zones in Nam-gu and Gwangsan-gu, and selection of urban regeneration projects in Dong-gu.

Efforts to secure regional budgets also bore significant fruit. He achieved the remarkable feat of securing the largest-ever national budget for Gwangju for three consecutive years, including budgets for future industries such as artificial intelligence, new energy industries, revitalization of small business owners and startups, and the automobile industry.

Gwangju's national budget expanded from 2.2102 trillion won in 2019 to 3.2155 trillion won in 2022, marking an increase of over 1 trillion won in three years and ushering in the '3 trillion won national budget era.'

In the 21st general election, he led the Democratic Party to victory in all eight districts of Gwangju, strengthening the region's political power for development. In the 20th presidential election, he boldly formed an election committee centered on youth in their 20s and 30s, laying the foundation for youth politics and earning recognition as a role model for city and provincial parties nationwide.

In the 8th local elections, he realized innovative nominations, replacing 70% of basic and metropolitan council members with new faces and greatly expanding political participation opportunities for youth, women, and newcomers.

Meanwhile, Song plans to register as a preliminary candidate for the Supreme Council member at the Democratic Party's national convention on the 18th and will begin full-scale election preparations as the sole candidate from Honam and the only candidate outside the metropolitan area.