Gwangju Employers Federation Hosts First Friday Breakfast Forum of the Year with Mayor Kang Gijung

City Administration Direction Following the Administrative Integration of Gwangju and Jeonnam

The Gwangju Employers Federation invited Gwangju Mayor Lee Ki-jung as the first speaker of the Year of the Fire Rabbit, hosting a Friday breakfast forum on the "2026 Gwangju City Administration Direction." Provided by Gwangju Employers Federation.

The Gwangju Employers Federation announced on January 9 that it had invited Gwangju Mayor Kang Gijung as the first speaker of the Year of the Black Dragon, hosting a Friday breakfast forum on the "2026 Gwangju City Administration Direction."

More than 200 people attended the 1,708th Friday breakfast forum, which featured a special lecture held in the convention hall on the third floor of the Holiday Inn Gwangju Hotel.

This forum opened with the theme "Expansion of a Prosperous Gwangju through Grand Integration of Gwangju and Jeonnam." This year, Gwangju City secured a record-high budget of 3.9497 trillion won, an increase of 563.9 billion won from the previous year, as numerous projects for the "Light Revolution" and the leap toward a prosperous Gwangju were included.

In the artificial intelligence (AI) sector, which Gwangju City has designated as its top priority for national funding this year, the following items were included: 600 million won for a feasibility study to establish a national NPU-dedicated computing center in Gwangju; 500 million won for a feasibility study to realize a regulation-free AI demonstration city; 24 billion won from the government and an additional 5.6 billion won from the National Assembly for the creation of the AX Demonstration Valley; 19.2 billion won for the advancement of the national AI data center; and 3.14 billion won for the establishment of an AI Gifted School affiliated with GIST. These achievements were greatly supported by local National Assembly members (Yang Bunam, Min Hyungbae, Park Kyuntaek, Jung Junho, Jeon Jinsook, Ahn Dogeol, Jung Jinwook, and Cho Incheol) during the parliamentary review process.

In addition, the city emphasized the AI mobility new town project, starting with the demonstration of 200 autonomous vehicles, and concluded with the vision of a "prosperous new economic map" centered on the Gwangju-style Silicon Valley.

Mayor Kang Gijung stated, "The greatest synergy of administrative integration between Gwangju and Jeonnam lies in strengthening metropolitan competitiveness, improving fiscal and administrative efficiency, and enhancing the ability to respond to population decline and the concentration in the Seoul metropolitan area." He added, "The integrated city will have a population of about 3.2 million and a GRDP of approximately 150 trillion won, forming what could be called the 'Super Municipality' (tentative name) Gwangju-Jeonnam Special City, which will become a prosperous special city."

Yang Jinseok, Chairman of the Gwangju Employers Federation, said, "In line with the direction of Gwangju City's administration, the Year of the Black Dragon will support innovative growth for businesses, establish a culture of labor-management cooperation, and take the lead in creating region-specific jobs." He added, "Like a horse that never stops its hooves while running, we will overcome the current crisis and vigorously move forward toward a greater leap with even more passion."

Meanwhile, the Gwangju Employers Federation currently has 885 member companies and is the longest-running private economic organization in Korea to hold breakfast forums. The organization invites prominent figures and top experts to speak every Friday for CEOs, local labor-management-government representatives, and opinion leaders.

Mayor Kang previously served three terms as a member of the National Assembly and, in 2019, was appointed Senior Presidential Secretary for Political Affairs under President Moon Jae-in, serving as the longest-tenured political secretary for one year and eight months since the Participatory Government.