Jung In-hwa, Mayor of Gwangyang, Focuses on Making Gwangyang a City to Live in for a Lifetime

2nd Anniversary of the 8th Elected Mayor's Term: "Creating a 'Childbirth-Friendly City', a 'Child-Rearing-Friendly City', and an 'Education-Friendly City'"

Jeong In-hwa, Mayor of Gwangyang City, Jeollanam-do, held a press conference on the 2nd anniversary of the 8th elected term at the city hall's main conference room on the 28th, presenting the achievements so far and the future direction of city administration.

Mayor Jeong said, “Over the past two years, we have been running toward the firm goal of ‘citizens’ well-being and happiness, and the prosperity and development of Gwangyang City.’ As a result, there have been many firsts, largest, and unique achievements, and it has been two years in which we have greatly approached becoming ‘a city where everyone wants to come and live’ and ‘the city with the highest happiness index,’” sharing his reflections.

[Photo by Gwangyang City]

He continued, “Without resting on these achievements, we will think more intensely and run vigorously to deliver an inspiring administration to our citizens, focusing on creating ‘Warm Gwangyang, a city where people want to live for a lifetime.’”

Mayor Jeong highlighted ten major achievements: ▲Designation of the Gwangyang Bay area as a secondary battery opportunity development special zone (June 2024) ▲Designation of the first pilot area for the education development special zone (February 2024) ▲Securing the ‘largest scale’ of national and provincial government funds since the city’s establishment (574.9 billion KRW) ▲‘Largest ever’ scale of investment attraction and job creation (27 companies, 4.0942 trillion KRW, 2,337 jobs) ▲Achieving ‘comprehensive first place’ for the first time in Gwangyang City in the 2024 government joint evaluation (first place in both quantitative and qualitative categories) ▲Successful transformation of the ‘Gwangyang Maehwa Festival’ with three no’s: no overcharging, no disposable products, no vehicle traffic, and introduction of paid admission ▲Issuance of 70 billion KRW worth of Gwangyang Love gift certificates, the ‘largest ever’ discount support ▲Winning the ‘Grand Prize’ in Jeonnam’s eco-friendly agriculture evaluation for two consecutive years for the first time ▲Ranking 12th nationwide in the 2024 Korea Sustainable City Evaluation ▲The only city in Jeonnam to record population growth for two consecutive years.

He cited ‘fostering future new industries’ as the greatest achievement and expressed his ambition to achieve a major transformation of Gwangyang’s economy through focused nurturing of new growth industries.

In particular, about 400 billion KRW of investment is planned for the 470,000-pyeong area of Gwangyang National Industrial Complex (Donghoan), Sepung Industrial Complex, and Yulchon 1 Industrial Complex, which were designated as the secondary battery opportunity development special zone on the 20th of last month.

Through this, while maintaining the existing steel industry solidly, the industrial structure will be diversified into future material industries such as secondary battery materials, creating high-quality jobs desired by local youth.

In the second half of the term, the city plans to steadily promote the construction of a data center and create a healthy venture ecosystem to become an innovative hub city for the secondary battery materials industry.

Additionally, the city will focus on fostering next-generation new growth engine industries such as building a full-cycle cluster for the secondary battery industry and nurturing the Gwangyang-type hydrogen industry.

To create a city where industry and tourism culture harmonize, efforts to realize a ‘tourism and cultural city’ are being accelerated. Tourism development for three zones with Gwangyang’s unique regional characteristics (▲Baegunsan Zone ▲Gubongsan Zone ▲Seomjingang Zone) is being sequentially promoted, and plans are underway to foster a stay-type tourism city by expanding distinctive tourism resources in each zone.

In the Baegunsan Zone, a premium healing forest welfare complex is being established, and in the Seomjingang Zone, efforts are underway to make Mangdeok Port a place to stay by building a workation center and creating Yoon Dong-ju Starlight Island.

In the Gubongsan Zone, the Gubongsan tourism complex is developing a 27-hole golf course and tourist accommodation facilities, and a family-type children’s theme park is under construction with a forest campground, sports climbing center, and a specialized science museum for materials, aiming to become a collective tourist destination enjoyable for all age groups.

The ‘Gubongsan experiential sculpture’ is being designed by a world-renowned artist to attract domestic and international tourists, with completion targeted for next year.

Full efforts are also being made to complete the ‘Gwangyang-type lifelong welfare platform’ supporting all life stages from fetal to elderly, realizing welfare that everyone can enjoy without exclusion.

Measures include ▲support for paternity leave incentives ▲operation of a public late-night Moonlight Children’s Hospital ▲free city bus rides for seniors aged 65 and over, establishing a dense and comprehensive welfare system embracing all life stages.

Through this, the city aims to actively respond to the crisis of local extinction by creating a ‘city good for having children,’ ‘city good for raising children,’ ‘city good for education,’ ‘city good for working,’ and ‘city where the elderly can live safely and comfortably.’

To fill welfare blind spots and respond to new welfare demands, new policies are continuously being developed. This year, 15 new welfare policies were developed, including ▲production of a lifelong welfare policy guide (e-book) ▲support for high school students’ internet lecture fees, and ▲preparation for operation of the Gwangyang-type 24-hour care daycare center. Additionally, 12 policies such as ▲support for single-parent families in Gwangyang and ▲transportation cost support for children’s severe out-of-area medical treatment are under review for social security consultation and administrative procedures.

Efforts are also focused on building a youth-friendly city where young people’s dreams become reality. The age range for youth policies has been raised to broaden the scope of benefits, and quality jobs are being created to strengthen youth independence. Furthermore, support for youth housing loan interest and construction of premium rental housing are underway to stabilize housing for young adults starting their social lives, making Gwangyang a city where youth want to stay.

To ensure prosperous rural areas with guaranteed income, efforts are being made to strengthen agricultural competitiveness and infrastructure through customized development of new varieties and expansion of distribution channels. The city established the nation’s first ‘microbial solidification facility’ to improve agricultural productivity and competitiveness and plans to focus on nurturing young farmers through small business complex spaces and Gwangyang-type rental smart farms.

The city is striving to become Jeonnam’s top safe city and a carbon-neutral city. In the 2023 national regional safety index evaluation, it was the only city-level area in the province selected as ‘excellent.’ Infrastructure for a people-centered safe city is being expanded, including maintenance of steep slope collapse risk areas and creation of safe return paths for citizens.

By declaring ‘Making Gwangyang Green,’ the city is actively responding to the climate crisis and accelerating the creation of a clean environment free from fine dust concerns through urban connected park green spaces and promotion of eco-friendly vehicles.

To enhance urban competitiveness through systematic urban development, the city is revitalizing the deteriorated old downtown through urban regeneration projects and is timely advancing urban development projects in the Mokseong, Daegeun, and Inseo districts to promote balanced development throughout Gwangyang City.

Mayor Jeong In-hwa stated, “The experiences and achievements so far have helped build the capacity to run the second half of the city administration more effectively as mayor of Gwangyang. If citizens show great interest and active cooperation, I am confident we can advance at an even faster pace.”

He added, “According to the 2023 Gwangyang City social survey, 63.1% of Gwangyang citizens responded that they want to continue living in Gwangyang for the next 10 years or more, which adds to our confidence. I hope everyone will join in making ‘Gwangyang, a city where everyone wants to come and live’ and ‘Gwangyang, the city with the highest happiness index.’”