Hwasun-gun Builds 'Foundation Advancing 30 Years'... Notable Achievements in the 2nd Year of the 8th Elected Term

'Renewing Hwasun, Making Residents Happy' Government Goal

'10,000 Won Rental Housing' Gains Nationwide Attention... Benchmarking Follows

Hwasun-gun, Jeollanam-do (Governor Gu Bok-gyu) recorded notable achievements in the second year of the 8th elected term, focusing on culture and tourism, vaccines, and agriculture, with 54 public contest projects (49.262 billion KRW) and 33 awards (313 million KRW). The county devoted all efforts to sustaining growth momentum to achieve the administrative goal of "Renewing Hwasun! Making Citizens Happy!"

Among Hwasun-gun's major achievements in 2023, the area that had the greatest internal and external impact was population policy, including the "10,000 KRW Rent Support Project for Youth and Newlyweds."

The population policies introduced with bold initiatives?such as the nationwide first 10,000 KRW rent support project, establishment and operation of a multicultural team dedicated to native citizens, the Hwasun-style 24-hour daycare center operation, and scholarships for multi-child families?received nationwide attention.

In particular, the 10,000 KRW rent support project for youth and newlyweds became a benchmark for local governments nationwide and led to policy adoption, earning prestigious honors including ▲Prime Minister’s Award at the ‘2023 Government Innovation Best Practice Competition (Ministry of the Interior and Safety)’ ▲Grand Prize at the ‘2023 Jeollanam-do Population Policy Excellence City/County Evaluation (Jeonnam Province)’ ▲Grand Prize at the ‘2023 Truly Good Local Autonomy Policy Conference,’ marking a remarkable achievement as a government innovation best practice. This elevated not only the excellence of Hwasun’s administration but also the pride of its citizens.

In 2023, the second year of the 8th elected term, Hwasun-gun focused on ▲practicing trustworthy administration through communication and empathy ▲complete recovery of daily life and revitalization of the local economy ▲creating a tourism city that attracts and retains visitors ▲building a vibrant rural community by strengthening agricultural competitiveness ▲focusing on future strategic industries in bio and vaccine sectors ▲constructing a youth hopeful city where it is good to have children and live ▲implementing warm inclusive welfare without anyone being left behind.

As evidenced by ranking first in the joint government evaluation within Jeollanam-do, 6th among 82 county-level local governments nationwide in the local government innovation evaluation, and winning the Prime Minister’s Award at the government innovation competition, Hwasun demonstrated outstanding administrative capabilities nationwide. Utilizing networks with the National Assembly and central government ministries, it secured a record-high budget of 128.6 billion KRW (126 projects) in national and provincial subsidies for the next year.

Governor Gu Bok-gyu of Hwasun-gun stated, “These valuable achievements are the result of the passionate desire of Hwasun citizens for administrative development and the hard work of over 1,400 public officials. If we faithfully carry out the tasks planned since the launch of the 8th elected term, we can advance the future of Hwasun by at least 30 years.”

▶ Practicing Trustworthy Administration through Communication and Empathy

From the beginning of 2023, Hwasun-gun held the ‘New Year Dialogue between the Governor and Hwasun Citizens.’ It conducted a total of 24 ‘Town and Township Tour Love Room Dialogues’ focusing on local issues and representatives of various organizations, emphasizing the power of harmony through communication and empathy.

In the densely populated Gwangdeok district, a civil service branch office was opened in Hwasun-eup, and in response to increasing citizen demand, the operation of unmanned civil document issuance machines was expanded (10 newly installed), and a nighttime passport civil service office was introduced. This led to the significant achievement of re-certification as an excellent institution for the National Happiness Civil Service Office in November 2023.

To proactively respond to the administrative demands and leap forward of Hwasun in the 8th elected term, an organizational restructuring was carried out for efficient administration. Systems such as multi-faceted evaluations, adherence to personnel rotation principles, and fair personnel management aligning performance with rewards were introduced to promote organizational stability.

▶ Complete Recovery of Daily Life and Efforts to Revitalize the Local Economy

With the COVID-19 endemic phase, Hwasun-gun opened and operated the Hwasun Small Business Support Center to ensure full recovery of daily life.

Usage of the Hwasun Love Gift Certificate was limited to franchise stores mainly with annual sales under 3 billion KRW, and policies such as year-round 10% discount sales of the gift certificates, interest subsidy support for small business loans, and credit guarantee support for small businesses were implemented to revitalize the local economy.

Additionally, policies to discover and nurture excellent companies in Hwasun-gun and provide loan support to promising small and medium enterprises were pursued, leading to improved management and competitiveness of SMEs. The youth food truck support project was promoted, including deployment at the 2023 Hwasun Dolmen Festival, demonstrating strong momentum in creating youth jobs.

▶ Creating a Tourism City that Attracts and Retains Visitors

Hwasun-gun pursued policies to expand tourism infrastructure, promote tourism development by region, provide expanded opportunities to enjoy culture and arts, and revitalize the Hwasun Artists’ Village to become a future tourism city attracting 5 million tourists who stay overnight.

Especially, the Hwasun Cultural Tourism Foundation (Neungju-myeon Dongheon), launched on the 6th of last month, is expected to serve as a comprehensive control tower for cultural tourism content development and marketing, marking a new turning point in the development of Hwasun’s cultural tourism.

The ‘2023 Hwasun Dolmen (Spring and Autumn) Flower Festival’ was a huge success in its inaugural year, attracting over 800,000 visitors and proving its potential to develop into a world-class festival. Dosok-myeon’s Dolmen Mosan Village was honored as the ‘Best Tourism Village’ by the UN World Tourism Organization on October 18, 2023.

The Hwasuncheon Flower River Road project, the first pledge project of the 8th elected term, is progressing smoothly with the completion of the musical fountain (October 31, 2023). Along with the Ant Hill Observatory scheduled for completion in April next year, it is expected to become a resting place for locals and a new tourist attraction.

The Hwasun Jeokbyeok Ecotourism National Attraction Project (Phase 1, total project cost 14.3 billion KRW), which secured 7.3 billion KRW in national funds as part of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s southern regional tourism development plan, had its project promotion plan finalized on December 22, raising expectations for early construction next year.

Hwasun-gun continued broad support for cultural and artistic performances, exhibitions, and cultural programs, including two performances of the nostalgic ‘Weekend Classics’ orchestra, four events commemorating the opening of the Hwasun Municipal Unjusa Cultural Center Media Art Exhibition Hall, four mobile photography classes and free movie screenings, eight exhibitions including the ‘Kim Byung-mo Retrospective’ at the Hwasun Municipal Choi Sang-jun Art Museum, four events such as Dongguri Children’s Art School and career experience programs, and year-round operation of the ‘Geunwon Gu Cheol-woo’ permanent exhibition and Four Gracious Plants calligraphy experience room.

▶ Building a Vibrant Rural Community by Strengthening Agricultural Competitiveness

Hwasun-gun focused on increasing farm income by enhancing the added value of agriculture to create a vibrant rural community that attracts youth back.

Notably, the annual sales of the online agricultural specialty product shopping mall Hwasun Farm surged more than 28 times from 50 million KRW in 2021 to 1.4 billion KRW.

The establishment of a linkage system through agreements among local food producers, farms, and companies to secure sales channels also played a significant role in increasing farm income.

Shine Muscat grapes, soybeans, tomatoes, peaches, and blueberries were selected as five specialized crops, with support provided for facility greenhouses, variety renewal, auxiliary facilities, and production compensation, highlighting the development and nurturing of high value-added specialized crops.

Support and nurturing of high value-added income crop farms were actively backed, including expanding medicinal herb cultivation items (from 1 to 11) and cultivation area (from 151 farms covering 41 hectares to 169 farms covering 45 hectares).

The Hwasun Agricultural Product Export Complex project (Namjeong-ri, Neungju-myeon), promoted through public contests, is a Jeonnam-type regional growth strategic project accelerating the establishment of agricultural product export sorting facilities, distribution marketing platforms, and export buyer complex systems.

Also, selected for the 2024 Agricultural Product Production Area Distribution Center support project (3.9 billion KRW), the Hwasun Food Integrated Support Center (APC), currently under construction in Namjeong-ri, Neungju-myeon, is expected to provide safe food to citizens and stable sales channels to farmers.

The foreign seasonal worker program (Cambodia: 7 farms, 13 workers from April to December 2023 / Philippines: 5 farms, 28 workers from August to December 2023) greatly helped alleviate labor shortages during busy farming seasons and revitalized rural areas. The retired small-scale greenhouse support project (4 hectares, 78 people) and youth farmer greenhouse support project (3.6 hectares, 14 people) also progressed smoothly, providing settlement conditions and income generation opportunities for retirees and young farmers.

Hwasun-gun notably expanded the selection scope of young successor farmers significantly (from 12 to 30) and promoted policies supporting farming settlement and startup farms (45 people) to establish a foundation for young successor agricultural entrepreneurs.

▶ Focused Development of Future Strategic Industries in Bio and Vaccine Sectors

As the only vaccine special zone in Korea, Hwasun-gun is fully committed to the focused development of bio and vaccine sectors as future strategic industries.

With the completion of the National Immunotherapy Innovation Center (48 billion KRW, located within Hwasun Chonnam National University Hospital), momentum has increased for developing core technologies for immunotherapy of intractable diseases (cancer, rare diseases), collaboration in preclinical and clinical stages, support for prototype production infrastructure, and global new drug development through open innovation.

Separately, the plan to create a next-generation immunotherapy-centered advanced medical complex for national vaccine and immunotherapy hub city development by 2032 [within Hwasun Bio and Pharmaceutical Industrial Complex / 1.472 million square meters / 600 billion KRW] has also commenced.

Having successfully attracted the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Bio Campus, Hwasun plans to train 1,000 domestic and international bio personnel annually from 2025, positioning itself as a globally recognized vaccine hub.

In line with the growing status of the vaccine special zone, related events and forums were hosted successfully, including the 2023 Biopharmaceutical Product Commercialization Support Symposium and the 2023 Hwasun International Vaccine and Immunotherapy Forum.

▶ Building a Youth Hope City Hwasun Where It Is Good to Have Children and Live

In the second year of the 8th elected term, Hwasun-gun successfully completed the first phase goal of its pledge to supply 100 units of 10,000 KRW rent housing. The provision of public rental housing attracted young populations, effectively bringing in 42 households (52 people) from outside the region as an appropriate response to prevent local extinction.

Childcare policies also responded well to temporary childcare needs of working parents, dual-income couples, and single-parent families by pioneering the first 24-hour daycare center operation in Jeonnam (two centers), receiving positive feedback.

To create a 24-hour uninterrupted childcare environment and provide systematic childcare services, public daycare centers were expanded (two purchased, one remodeled), and an additional ‘Together Care Center’ (for 20 children aged 6 to 12) was opened and is currently operating.

Furthermore, to build a child-friendly Hwasun, various support policies for youth and newlyweds are being implemented, including Hwasun-gun marriage encouragement grants and provincial youth couple marriage congratulatory grants, housing purchase loan interest support for newlyweds and multi-child families, childcare product purchase support for families with three or more children, moving-in incentives, and student moving-in congratulatory grants.

▶ Implementing Warm Inclusive Welfare Without Anyone Being Left Behind

Hwasun-gun established the nation’s first multicultural team dedicated to native citizens by hiring migrant women from five countries (Vietnam, Cambodia, Philippines, China, Japan) as public officials. The team provides services such as visiting multicultural families, counseling on difficulties, accompanying visits to hospitals and banks, and providing living information services.

The county actively worked to discover welfare blind spots through revitalizing human safety nets in towns and townships, promoting specialized projects centered on local community security councils.

Emergency welfare service support for crisis overcoming and discovery of welfare blind spots were prioritized, providing livelihood expenses, medical expenses, and other supports (housing costs, welfare facility usage fees, fuel costs, etc.).

To prepare for a vibrant old age in the era of 100-year lifespans, the village doctor system introduced last year continued with 934 visits (touring 13 towns and townships, resolving medical blind spots, treating 12,051 people).

For comfortable and healthy old age, the county-designated municipal nursing hospital as a dementia-safe hospital (the first in Jeonnam), and completed projects such as providing standing tables in senior centers (133 locations, 163 tables) and installing safety handrails in senior centers (292 locations, 696 handrails) continued from last year.

The senior employment project employed 5,247 people across 15 projects, providing suitable jobs for seniors and fostering confidence by promoting health improvement and social relationship enhancement.

Hwasun-gun has been implementing a pilot project supporting community independence for people with disabilities (2022?2024, 3 years), completing occupancy of three independent support houses for disabled persons (4 people: 3 men, 1 woman), and continues integrated service support including activity support for disabled persons and voucher services for people with developmental disabilities (401 people) by establishing community independence pathways and individual support plans.

In July, the Hwasun Youth Training Center was completed, equipped with a self-governance activity room, book caf?, karaoke room, club room, and party room, providing a venue for youth to realize their dreams and talents.

During the 2023 Hwasun Dolmen Autumn Flower Festival, a national youth street dance competition was held at the World Megalith Theme Park, allowing young people to fully express their talents and creativity.