Baek Gyeong-hyeon, Mayor of Guri, Receives Korea Local Autonomy Innovation Award for Top Innovative Mayor

On the 4th, Baek Gyeong-hyun, mayor of Guri City, received the Grand Prize for the Most Innovative Local Government Leader at the '2024 Korea Local Autonomy Innovation Awards' held at the Construction Hall in Nonhyeon-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul.

On the 4th, Baek Kyung-hyun, mayor of Guri City, received the Grand Innovation Mayor Award at the "2024 Korea Local Government Innovation Awards" held at the Construction Hall in Nonhyeon-dong, Seoul. Photo by Guri City

The '2024 Korea Local Autonomy Innovation Awards' is organized by the Korea Economic Daily and supported by the National Association of Mayors, Governors and District Heads and the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee. The award is given to local governments and leaders who have achieved outstanding results in regional development.

Among them, the individual category's Grand Prize for Most Innovative Local Government Leader is awarded to leaders with innovative leadership who have contributed to regional development by realizing various policies with a future-oriented vision and excellent management mindset.

Mayor Baek Gyeong-hyun received high scores across the board in city administration, including administrative innovation, industrial economy, education and cultural arts, welfare, and environmental safety.

In particular, future growth projects laying the foundation for a self-sufficient city, such as the E-commerce Advanced City Development Project, the Guri Topyeong 2 Public Housing District Smart Green City Development Project, efforts to add a stop at Galmae Station on the GTX-B line for people-centered metropolitan transportation infrastructure, and the Taereung-Guri IC metropolitan road expansion project, received high evaluations.

Additionally, the operation of the Guri City Commercial Area Revitalization Foundation and the Small Business Comprehensive Support Center for building a livable economic city, the selection as a WHO-certified Age-Friendly City for creating an inclusive welfare city full of warmth, and various child-rearing support projects also received excellent evaluations.

Furthermore, major achievements included hosting various festivals for creating a cultured and healthy happy city, expanding sports and cultural facility infrastructure by age and class and establishing key spaces, and promoting the Inchangcheon ecological stream restoration project for sustainable eco-friendly city development.

Meanwhile, at the event, Im Jae-chun, Public Relations Cooperation Officer, and related department staff attended on behalf of Mayor Baek Gyeong-hyun to receive the award.

Mayor Baek Gyeong-hyun said, “This achievement is the result of efforts to promote citizen-centered communication and empathetic administration to create ‘Enjoyable Change, Happier Guri City’ under the themes of new growth, challenge, and change.” He added, “Innovation does not start from grand visions or big goals, but from small changes that open the way for transformation. Therefore, we will continue to embrace change and challenges without fear and achieve various innovations to realize sustainable development of Guri City.”