Gyeongnam Province's First Residents' Meeting: What Voices Emerged?

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Seryeong] The first provincial residents' meeting involving residents of Gyeongnam Province was held on the 30th.

Before the meeting began, Governor Park Wansu said, "We created this occasion today to gather residents representing various sectors and directly hear voices from the field."

Governor Park held the meeting for about 1 hour and 40 minutes together with 16 resident representatives.

The resident representatives proposed policies and requested improvements regarding overall provincial administration.

They asked for measures to stabilize consumer prices such as heating costs for vulnerable groups and fuel costs for farms, and requested follow-up management to ensure that government or local government youth education programs lead to employment.

They also presented opinions on ▲establishing a Defense Industry Association and active support from the province ▲fostering small and medium enterprises for localization of aircraft engine materials and parts ▲supporting innovative manufacturing technology development for Small Modular Reactors (SMR).

They spoke about ▲introducing managers to discover welfare blind spots ▲providing shelters for abused male persons with disabilities ▲supporting workshops for non-regular workers ▲securing floodplains by restoring the Nakdong River wetland ecological belt ▲hosting a UN international conference related to marine litter issues.

There were also proposals regarding budget support for parent talent donation projects, in-depth interviews with marriageable age population, development of distinctive islands to foster marine leisure hub cities, and attracting national youth training facilities.

Gyeongsangnam-do residents' representatives attending the January residents' meeting and Governor Park Wan-su (sixth from the left in the back row) are taking a commemorative photo.
[Photo by Gyeongnam Provincial Government]

Governor Park instructed immediate review of attracting national youth training facilities and establishing shelters for male persons with disabilities who are victims, and ordered to visit the site directly if necessary to understand the situation.

A participating resident said, "I have worked in the welfare field for over 20 years, but this is the first time the governor created such an occasion to directly listen to residents' stories."

An executive official said, "Having residents come to the center of provincial administration and speak gives a great resonance and motivation," and added, "I will work hard to reflect the proposals in our work, thinking of each attending resident as the governor."

On this day, Governor Park emphasized, "Residents are the owners and customers of provincial administration," and said, "I believe that accurately understanding the hearts of customers and owners is performing provincial administration correctly."

He added, "I will listen not only to usual thoughts about provincial administration but also to harsh criticisms about the province and reflect them in the administration."

Gyeongnam Province plans to review the 16 policy proposals from residents made at this meeting, incorporate them into policies, and notify the proposers of the action plans.

A provincial official said, "The meeting video can be watched again on the official Gyeongsangnam-do YouTube channel Gyeongnam TV," and added, "The residents' meetings to be held monthly will accept participation applications before the meetings through the Gyeongnam Province website."