Reviewing the Potential for Policy Application of Overseas Training Outcomes Together with Citizens
The Jinju City Council in South Gyeongsang Province held the '2025 Jinju City Council Overseas Official Business Trip Citizen Report Meeting' at the City Hall Citizen Hall, attended by citizens, city officials from relevant departments, and representatives from affiliated and related organizations. The event provided an opportunity to review, together with citizens, the potential for applying the outcomes of overseas training to local policies.
The report meeting, held on December 22, introduced the results of the official business trip to Osaka and Kyoto, Japan, which took place last September. It also served as a practical forum to verify whether advanced overseas case studies could be effectively implemented as policies within the context of Jinju.
Previously, the Jinju City Council set the direction for learning through prior discussions by each standing committee and expert consultations. During the overseas training, the council conducted research-oriented visits from a policy design perspective, examining policy structures at universities, research institutes, and public facilities to explore their applicability. By making this process public at the citizen report meeting, the council demonstrated the potential for policy feedback from local council training programs.
At the meeting, Jinju City Council members from each standing committee took the microphone themselves and presented suggestions focused not on 'directly adopting' policies in fields such as culture, environment, economy, and welfare, but on 'restructuring them as successful strategies adapted to the local context.'
Key policy directions discussed included: implementing a future-oriented cultural city by expanding cultural policies in connection with start-ups, the environment, and urban regeneration to strengthen urban competitiveness; transitioning to compact cities and neighborhood-based urban management systems in response to demographic changes; and designing integrated policies that simultaneously promote local economic revitalization and enhance care services. The focus was on policy directions that could be adapted to the region.
This year's report meeting especially introduced an overall evaluation and Q&A session with external experts, allowing for open discussion of limitations and areas for improvement in the policy design stage. The session included questions and answers not only about the strengths of overseas examples but also about anticipated constraints and administrative challenges in local implementation, thereby reinforcing the meeting's role in policy verification beyond a one-sided presentation of achievements.
The Jinju City Council plans to gradually institutionalize the actionable policy tasks discussed at the meeting through consultations with the executive branch. Detailed research findings and materials can be accessed on the Jinju City Council website.
Chairman Baek Seunghung stated, "This citizen report meeting was not simply to share the 'results' of the overseas official business trip, but to publicly present it as a 'process that can be translated into policy.' The council will continue to assess the feasibility of policies from the citizens' perspective and fulfill its role in ensuring necessary institutional improvements."
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