Yun Byeong-tae, Mayor of Naju, Completes 'Dialogue with Residents'... Listening to Difficulties

Yoon Byung-tae, Mayor of Naju City, Jeollanam-do, has concluded the 2024 town, township, and neighborhood dialogues held to listen to opinions from all walks of life aimed at resolving various civil complaints in residents' daily lives and creating a happy and livable Naju.

Naju City, Jeollanam-do (Mayor Yoon Byung-tae) announced on the 29th that it has completed the schedule of dialogues with residents, which took place at 20 towns, townships, and neighborhoods from Bonghwang-myeon on the 9th to Wanggok-myeon on the 25th.

The dialogues with residents were held over a total of 11 days, divided into morning and afternoon sessions, with two locations per day.

Mayor Yoon Byung-tae of Naju is listening to residents' difficulties through dialogue.
[Photo by Naju City]

At the dialogue sites, explanations of the major administrative directions and policies for 2024, as well as reports on town, township, and neighborhood affairs, were minimized using video viewing, while maximizing time for conversations and Q&A with residents.

On the day of the dialogues, Mayor Yoon chaired a preliminary review meeting as his first schedule upon arriving at work to thoroughly check key issues for each town, township, and neighborhood to ensure smooth communication with residents.

He explained last year’s major achievements in various administrative fields and this year’s administrative directions directly in a way that matched the residents’ perspectives, rather than simply listing them, thereby fostering consensus.

A total of 383 resident suggestions and difficulties were collected through the dialogues, with an average of 19 opinions proposed per town, township, and neighborhood.

By department, the Safety City Construction Bureau, responsible for small-scale development projects such as village road and farm road expansion and paving, drainage maintenance, as well as transportation including bus routes and parking lots, accounted for the largest number with 263 cases (69%).

This was followed by the Tourism, Culture and Environment Bureau (11%), the Administrative Welfare Bureau (8%), the Future Strategy Industry Bureau (7%), the Agricultural Technology Center (4%), and the Health Center and Bitgaram Facility Management Office (1%).

In particular, there was high interest this year in the creation of park golf courses, which are gaining popularity as a national leisure sport.

Previously, the city has been proactively responding to resident demand by promoting the establishment of 36-hole park golf courses in the Yeongsanpo area and 36-hole courses on Ddeuldeul Island in Nampyeong.

Additionally, among the 406 suggestions collected through last year’s dialogues with residents, the city received positive responses by explaining the management status of completed or ongoing matters as well as those with insufficient conditions or difficult to process.

This year, the city plans to continuously manage these issues through holding reporting meetings on the handling plans for suggestions and difficulties raised during the dialogues and providing one-on-one final result notifications to the parties involved.

Mayor Yoon plans to operate a direct text message service using a messaging system and a citizen direct consultation office at the civil affairs office starting this year, following the monthly village roundtable meetings that have been held once a month.

Mayor Yoon stated, “We will actively review every single valuable opinion from residents without omission and prioritize urgent matters directly related to citizens’ safe daily lives. For mid- to long-term projects, we will steadily resolve them through consultations among related institutions, political circles, and social organizations.”

He added, “For difficulties that could not be mentioned during this dialogue, we will do our best to resolve daily inconveniences by establishing a frequent communication system with residents through the visiting village roundtable meetings, the newly introduced citizen direct consultation office, and the direct text message service this year.”

Naju = Kim Yuk-bong, Honam Reporting Headquarters, Asia Economy baekok@asiae.co.kr