Changwon Special City, "We Will Make It the Most Livable City in Northeast Asia"

Communicative and Empathetic Local Administration with Citizens
Dedicated to Establishing a Medical School and Supporting Citizens' Lives

Changwon Special City in Gyeongnam has been leading change and innovation at the beginning of this year, the second year of the 8th local government term, by practicing autonomous administration that communicates and empathizes with citizens to open a sustainable future.

As a result, in the second year since the launch of the special city, additional social welfare benefits that citizens can feel and budgets related to firefighting were secured. Despite the insufficient financial condition, the city managed its finances properly, achieving 11.8 billion KRW in interest income, among other concrete accomplishments.

With the basic property amount standard for social welfare benefits raised from that of small and medium-sized cities to that of large metropolitan cities like metropolitan cities, 10,648 Changwon Special City citizens who were in welfare blind spots are now enjoying an additional 14.9 billion KRW in annual welfare benefits. (As of the end of 2022)

The firefighting safety grant tax was also increased by more than 50%, securing an additional annual budget of about 2 billion KRW, enabling the establishment of a more thorough citizen safety network.

Changwon Special City Mayor Hong Nampyo met with U Donggi, Chairman of the Local Era Committee, to request support for the Special City.

In July, as soon as the Local Era Committee, the command center for decentralization and balanced development policies, was launched, Mayor Hong Nam-pyo met with Woo Dong-gi, chairman of the Local Era Committee, to propose major city issues and actively requested authority and support to strengthen the foundation of the special city.

The city plans to make every effort to secure special authority in line with the schedule for the Local Era Committee’s delegation of authority and the establishment of a cost evaluation expert committee.

Changwon, which lacks medical professional education institutions such as dental, Korean medicine, and pharmacy colleges, has made every effort to establish a medical school, a 30-year-long wish of its 1.04 million citizens, in response to the government’s intention to expand medical school quotas.

In March, the city held a rally of the Pan-Citizen Promotion Committee, launched a petition campaign with one million signatures, and held two National Assembly forums, gathering the hopes of various sectors to publicize the necessity and justification for establishing a medical school nationwide.

Changwon Special City has made efforts to expand the fire safety grant tax and to establish a medical school.

The petition campaign surpassed 600,000 signatures, and recent polls show that over 84% support the establishment of a medical school in Changwon. The city plans to continuously appeal to the National Assembly and government to reflect the establishment of the medical school.

The city achieved 11.8 billion KRW in interest income this year through systematic fund management reflecting liquidity and interest rate conditions. Recognizing the urgent need to secure stable independent revenue sources amid uncertain revenue conditions, the city actively utilized the high-interest financial environment to increase interest income.

By operating efficient public contracts such as split ordering within contract laws, the city expanded bidding opportunities for local companies and increased the local companies’ contract award rate, striving to revitalize the stagnant local economy.

To protect citizens’ mental health, the city completed the Mind Health Center and accelerated the construction of public facilities to meet various administrative demands, including breaking ground in October for the integrated Agricultural Technology Center building to promote smart farming technology.

Mayor Hong Nam-pyo of Changwon Special City has consistently emphasized strengthening the capabilities of public officials, saying, “To create and implement good policies for citizens, the capabilities of public officials must be supported.” Accordingly, the city overhauled education and personnel systems to enhance staff qualifications and enable them to demonstrate their abilities.

About 700 employees were trained through special lectures reflecting rapidly changing policy trends such as ChatGPT, population policy, and aerospace. For the city’s core projects in nuclear power and hydrogen sectors, experts were invited to conduct advanced courses, with over 200 employees completing five sessions, enabling staff to respond quickly to evolving policies.

Mayor Hong said, “I believe the way to prevent population outflow to the metropolitan area is to create a better living environment than the metropolitan area,” adding, “We will proactively respond to the launch of the Local Era Committee and enhance the completeness of city administration so that citizens can feel the changes in city governance.”