Preliminary Uijeongbu Mayoral Candidate Ahn Byeongyong: "I Will Restart Uijeongbu’s Halted Engine"

Preliminary Uijeongbu Mayor Candidate Ahn Byeongyong of the Democratic Party
Emergency Press Conference on Uijeongbu’s Fiscal Crisis

Ahn Byeongyong, preliminary candidate for mayor of Uijeongbu representing the Democratic Party of Korea, stated on the 24th that he decided to hold an emergency press conference out of a sense of crisis that, if Uijeongbu continues on its current path, it may face collapse rather than a temporary downturn, and to make the seriousness of the situation known. At the press conference, Ahn said, "The engine of Uijeongbu has come to a halt, and the local economy has collapsed. I, Ahn Byeongyong, will restart it with full force and restore it."

Ahn Byungyong, Democratic Party of Korea preliminary candidate for Mayor of Uijeongbu. Provided by preliminary candidate Ahn Byungyong.

Ahn criticized Mayor Kim Donggeun for blaming Uijeongbu’s fiscal problems on the previous mayor, arguing that the achievement of a zero-debt city made under the previous administration has disappeared, and that within two years of the current mayor taking office, the city’s debt has increased by 46.4 billion won.

He also pointed out that the 80 billion won Integrated Fiscal Stabilization Fund has disappeared, criticizing the city’s budget management by saying, "Despite having a massive surplus of 129.3 billion won piled up in the city treasury, the administration has shown its incompetence in budget operations by borrowing high-interest private loans and paying 1.2 billion won in annual interest."

Ahn noted that due to Uijeongbu’s budget shortfall, 92 self-initiated projects have been either completely cut or suspended, saying, "As these survival budgets disappear, people are leaving Uijeongbu." He claimed that Mayor Kim Donggeun, being obsessed with erasing the legacy of Ahn Byeongyong, has kicked away every revenue-generating project.

He criticized the cancellation of the relocation of the Dobong Driver’s License Test Center, saying that the city voluntarily forfeited the opportunity to secure a 50 billion won mutual growth and development fund that the Seoul Metropolitan Government and Nowon District had promised to provide. He added that the project to relocate the reserve forces training ground in Howon-dong is adrift, and that, while the incinerator relocation project has been wavering between a fiscal project with public deliberation and a private investment model, construction costs have ballooned by at least several tens of billions of won.

He further pointed out that, in the case of the privately financed park project behind Boram Hospital, if the project operator had been allowed to purchase the entire site, the city would have immediately secured 60 billion won in financial resources and could have developed cultural and sports facilities. Instead, Uijeongbu scrapped the project, paid compensation for the temple-owned land, and planted sunflowers there, which he said is close to an abuse of administrative power.

He also said that the complex cultural convergence district project, for which a 1 trillion won investment had been arranged and almost all administrative procedures had been completed, is in a devastating state, emphasizing that if it had proceeded as planned, at least 100 billion won in revenue could have been expected.

Drawing on the achievements from his tenure as mayor, Ahn pledged to implement a meticulous fiscal strategy to secure future growth engines for Uijeongbu. He said that by completing the Camp LaGuardia compact city, he would immediately recover approximately 150 billion won in public contributions and secure an additional stable property tax base of more than 2 billion won annually.

He also said he would attract a racecourse, which would generate about 55 billion to 56.5 billion won in local taxes each year and create more than 100 billion won in economic ripple effects. He added that by easing regulations in the Jangam-dong area and pushing again for the integrated relocation of the driver’s license test centers, he would increase fiscal resources by more than 50 billion won.

Ahn pledged to create a sports and leisure convergence complex at CRC, expecting production inducement effects in the trillions of won, and to finalize the relocation of the reserve forces training ground in Howon-dong so that Howon-dong can be elevated into a premium residential hub. He said he would recover 60 billion won in public contributions and open a connecting road to the Capital Region 1st Ring Expressway to reduce logistics costs.

He vowed to secure the early return of Camp Stanley and successfully develop CRC, Camp Kyle, and Camp Jackson, stating that, based on his strong relationship of trust with President Lee Jaemyung, he would elevate the development of returned U.S. military bases to a national project and immediately establish a dedicated task force for base development to firmly secure national funding.

Ahn Byeongyong, the preliminary candidate, said, "City administration is not a training ground for the mayor, and one round of incompetent and disorderly governance by the mayor is more than enough," and pledged, "I, Ahn Byeongyong, will refill Uijeongbu’s empty coffers, immediately restore and revive the slashed livelihood and welfare budgets, and powerfully restart and recover the halted engine of Uijeongbu and its collapsed local economy."