Lee Byung-hoon, the Democratic Party preliminary candidate for the Gwangju Dong-gu Nam-gu-eul constituency, announced that he will realize the 'Integrated Care for a Humanities City' to transform Gwangju's original city into a city that respects people and offers the best living environment. Integrated Care for a Humanities City refers to establishing an age-specific care system that enables a happy life from infancy to old age and managing it integrally at the administrative level.
The integrated care system for a humanities city proposed by candidate Lee Byung-hoon is divided into three main stages, each with core projects.
First, the infancy and early childhood stage requires intensive medical care and support. There are no significant medical or care facilities within the original city, causing distress to parents in urgent situations. To address this, candidate Lee plans to establish a specialized children's hospital as a medical emergency support system and a 365 Care Center.
The second stage is youth, a period involving employment, marriage, housing, childbirth, and childcare. Securing quality jobs is essential, along with support for startups and childcare. Candidate Lee plans to maximize employment opportunities by promoting AI-related startups in Geumnam Valley and the 'Gwangju-type Job Season 2' project within the original city. In particular, he aims to develop AI, content, smart healthcare, and future automobile sectors as new industries in the original city.
The third stage concerns life after retirement, requiring a special system that supports economic stability for a happy old age, diverse hobbies, broad social connections, and the maintenance of social respect and dignity. Candidate Lee plans to gradually expand the AI healthcare system to all residents, create various senior job opportunities, expand senior centers, increase park golf courses, enhance swimming facilities, and develop barefoot walking health trails as part of his post-retirement life plan.
To this end, Representative Lee Byung-hoon has exchanged opinions through discussions and meetings with experts at each stage and has shown great interest in securing sites for the construction of related facilities. For the specialized children's hospital, designating the original city as a medical special zone is a prerequisite, and he has been working on this plan with Gwangju City, Dong-gu, and others since the early days of his tenure in the National Assembly.
Regarding startups for youth employment, the process of attracting about 300 AI-related businesses to the original city has proven the potential in content fields such as design, gaming, advanced video, and edit shops, as well as in beauty and healthcare sectors.
Additionally, the smart healthcare technology and related systems for senior health care have already passed the demonstration phase through projects promoted with startup companies. This is expected to significantly alleviate social issues such as the increasing number of solitary elderly deaths. Candidate Lee also revealed plans to further expand the concepts of 'Humanities City' promoted by Dong-gu and 'Education City' promoted by Nam-gu into a lifelong education concept to spread respect and dignity for seniors throughout society.
Preliminary candidate Lee Byung-hoon stated, "Gwangju, as a city of human rights, requires deep consideration for care. Especially, humanistic reflection on humanity is necessary," and expressed his ambition, saying, "I will make Gwangju a city where a humane life is possible for everyone."
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