64% of Gwangju Citizens Say the 8th Elected Administration Is Doing Well

High Satisfaction with Free Public Transportation on May 18 Memorial Day
Jobs, Culture, Leisure, Shopping, and Transportation Still Seen as "Inconvenient"
This Year's Key Policies: Sangsaeng Card and Sports Tourism

Gwangju Mayor Kang Kijeong is attending the '2024 Provincial Governors Policy Conference' held at the Four Seasons Hotel in Seoul on September 10 last year, presenting on Gwangju's representative industries, artificial intelligence (AI), and future car policies. Provided by Gwangju City

According to a survey, two out of three Gwangju citizens gave a positive evaluation of the operation of the 8th popularly elected Gwangju municipal administration.

On the 24th, Gwangju City announced that it had commissioned a public opinion poll agency, Realmeter, to conduct a "Gwangju Municipal Administration Citizen Perception Survey" from the 17th to the 20th, targeting 1,000 citizens aged 18 and older in the Gwangju area. As a result, 64.1% of citizens (8.8% "very good," 55.3% "somewhat good") gave a positive evaluation of the city's administration.

The reasons cited were "improvement compared to the past" (31.3%), "efforts for citizen participation and communication" (29.8%), "efforts to resolve current issues and long-standing projects" (26.4%), and "outstanding drive" (12.1%).

Regarding the "future outlook of Gwangju," 61.8% of citizens responded that "it will improve." On the other hand, 29.2% said "there will be no significant change," and 5.3% answered "it will get worse."

The most inconvenient aspect of living in Gwangju was cited as "jobs and income" (36.3%), followed by "cultural, leisure, and shopping infrastructure" (18.6%), "transportation infrastructure" (13.6%), and "welfare services" (9.1%).

Gwangju Mayor Kang Gijeong attended the 'Gwangju City-Gwangju Christian Hospital Public Late-Night Children's Hospital Operation and Support Agreement Ceremony' held at Namgu Gwangju Christian Hospital on July 3, 2023, and took a commemorative photo after signing the agreement with Park Byungran, Chairman of Gwangju Christian Hospital. Photo by Gwangju City

Among the major policies of the 8th popularly elected Gwangju administration, the policies considered most important were "opening upper roads such as Urban Railway Line 2" (22.6%) and "establishing cultural, tourism, and shopping infrastructure" (22.5%). This was followed by "operation of 24-hour public night pediatric hospitals" (15.1%), "attracting a 1 million-pyeong future automobile national industrial complex" (11.2%), and "integrated care unique to Gwangju" (10.1%).

When the satisfaction with major policies was converted to a 100-point scale, "free public transportation on May 18th Memorial Day, practicing the spirit of sharing and solidarity," scored the highest at 73.8 points. This policy was first implemented last year to commemorate the meaning of the May 18th Democratization Movement, a national memorial day and local holiday, and for the convenience of visitors from across the country.

Other highly rated policies included "attracting a 1 million-pyeong future automobile national industrial complex after 14 years" (72.7 points), "24-hour public night pediatric hospitals" (72.1 points), which was promoted to improve the pediatric and adolescent medical system in crisis due to the pediatric open-run treatment chaos, "establishing representative cultural, tourism, and shopping infrastructure" (71.0 points), "attracting AI gifted high schools and semiconductor companies" (69.4 points), and "10 a.m. work start system for elementary school parents" (69.3 points).

The survey also examined citizens' perceptions of Gwangju City's four key policies for this year: ▲livelihood economy ▲Visit Gwangju Year ▲future industries ▲Daejabo (public transportation, bicycles, walking) city.

According to the results, in the "livelihood economy" sector, citizens' satisfaction and perception of the importance of "uninterrupted operation of the Gwangju Sangsaeng Card" were highest. The city has decided to extend the special discount rate (from 7% to 10%) for the Gwangju Sangsaeng Card, initially planned for January during the Lunar New Year holiday, until February.

Kang Kijeong, mayor of Gwangju, attended the "Gwangju Future Car Vision Declaration Ceremony" held on the afternoon of March 29, 2023, at the VX Studio on the first floor of the Gwangju Real Content Cube (GCC) in Nam-gu. He announced the "Four Major Promotion Strategies" to enhance the competitiveness of the future car industry. Provided by Gwangju City

Regarding the "Visit Gwangju Year," many citizens responded that "promoting tourism linked to sports," such as KIA Tigers and Gwangju FC, was the most important. This is interpreted as reflecting the achievements in sports last year, including Gwangju FC's first entry into the Asian Champions League and KIA Tigers' overall championship win.

In the "future industries" sector, "creating a 2045 carbon-neutral city and energy-independent industrial complex" was recognized as the most important. The city also plans to steadily prepare for securing "RE100" in addition to "AI industry and future automobile industry."

In the "Daejabo city" sector, the policy that citizens were most satisfied with was "continuous expansion of walkable streets and car-free zones." In particular, there was high interest in the construction of the "Gwangcheon-Sangmu Line" urban railway. The city plans to make 2025 the year to fully implement the Daejabo city initiative and will promote not only policies with high citizen satisfaction but also policies to diversify public transportation options.

Lee Byungcheol, Director of Planning and Coordination, said, "Through this survey, we were able to confirm various opinions and demands of citizens," and added, "We will do our best to increase policy satisfaction and pursue a more future-oriented municipal administration."

Meanwhile, this survey was conducted by Gwangju City through Realmeter using a structured questionnaire via mobile web and telephone interviews. The sampling error is ±3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level, and the response rate was 12.4%.