Driving Regional Development with Outstanding Leadership
"Achievements Made Together by Residents and Public Officials"
Lee Seunghwa, the governor of Sancheong-gun, Gyeongnam, was selected as the 'Local Autonomy CEO of the Year.'
According to Sancheong-gun on the 18th, Governor Lee Seunghwa received the Local Autonomy Head Award at the '2024 Local Autonomy CEO of the Year Awards Ceremony' held at the Seoul Air Force Hotel.
Hosted by the Korea Public Autonomy Research Institute and organized by the Regional Policy Research Forum, the Local Autonomy CEO of the Year award is given to local government heads who have achieved outstanding accomplishments in regional development and autonomous administration.
In particular, it is a highly meaningful award as it is selected through direct recommendations and voting by local government officials nationwide. Previously, since October, the Korea Public Autonomy Research Institute received candidate recommendations from local government officials across the country and selected the final candidates after evaluation by over 50 experts in local autonomy studies.
Candidates were divided into four categories: large cities with populations over 300,000, small and medium cities with populations under 300,000, county governors, and district heads. Local government deputy heads, planning (administration) department heads, and team leaders voted to select the final winners.
Governor Lee Seunghwa, who won the honor in the county governor category, has been evaluated for firmly establishing the image of a wellness tourism city by successfully hosting the Sancheong Expo and raising the summer vacation travel satisfaction ranking from 32nd to 1st nationwide since the launch of the 8th local government administration.
He also attracted investment of 31.4 billion KRW from five companies to the Oriental Medicine Anti-aging Industrial Complex, which had remained unsold for five years, and laid the foundation for regional development through outstanding administrative leadership, including achieving the single cable car route in the Gyeongnam area at Jirisan Sancheong.
Moreover, he devoted efforts to strengthening agricultural competitiveness and building a welfare safety net by constructing dormitories for foreign workers, hosting the 1st Sancheong Agricultural Specialties Grand Festival, pioneering new overseas markets, providing free shingles vaccinations for all residents aged 65 and over, supporting haircut costs for children of multicultural families for the first time nationwide, and building the Disabled Persons’ Hall and San-en Cheongbok Branch.
Governor Lee Seunghwa said, “This award is not an individual achievement but a valuable result accomplished together with the residents and public officials. As we welcome the 2025 Year of Visit Sancheong, residents and public officials are once again united and dedicated, so I hope many people visit Sancheong to enjoy various contents and have a happy time.”
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