Dongducheon City and Lawmaker Kim Seongwon launch a "one team" to secure national funding for 2027
Mayor Park Hyungdeok: "Dongducheon's 75 years of sacrifice must be repaid with national funding"
Dongducheon City in Gyeonggi Province announced on the 24th that it held a "working-level consultation for securing national funding for 2027 and submitting requests on major pending issues" with National Assembly member Kim Seongwon at the National Assembly Members' Office Building on the 23rd, thereby launching an all-out system to secure national funding for regional development.
Dongducheon City held a working-level meeting with Rep. Kim Seongwon at the National Assembly Members' Office Building on the 23rd to secure national budget allocations for 2027 and present requests on major pending issues. Photo by Dongducheon City
This consultation was arranged based on the assessment that there are limits to promoting large-scale long-cherished projects with local financial resources alone. The city believes that support from the central government and the National Assembly is more important than anything else for regional takeoff, and has proactively moved to establish an organic cooperation system with the National Assembly.
During the meeting, the city delivered to the lawmaker's office its key projects that require national funding support in 2027 and held in-depth discussions on concrete strategies to secure the budget. The main requested projects focused on expanding infrastructure directly linked to citizens' daily lives. They included projects to improve residential conditions through the improvement of deteriorated street environments in the old downtown and the development of infrastructure in areas of residential decline, maintenance of basic sewerage facilities to prevent river pollution, and expansion of transportation and parking infrastructure in preparation for the development and expansion of tourist destinations.
In addition, the city presented the development of returned U.S. military bases and its response to the re-designation of depopulated areas as its top pending issues. Dongducheon City explained that over the past 75 years it has provided 42% of its area as U.S. military bases, resulting in annual economic losses of more than 527.8 billion won. Accordingly, it requested the priority return of Camp Buckner and Camp Mobile, the establishment of a state-led organization exclusively in charge of the return and development of the sites, and revisions to special laws.
The city also actively requested that, given the steep population decline caused by the relocation of U.S. military units, the evaluation for re-designation of depopulated areas in the second half of the year should grant additional weight to the population growth rate over the past five years, and should reflect Dongducheon City's unique circumstances and its high business closure rate as supplementary indicators.
Mayor Park Hyungdeok of Dongducheon City stated, "Securing national funding is a key task that will determine our city's future competitiveness," adding, "I would like to express my deep gratitude to our local constituency National Assembly member for making time for this meeting despite his busy legislative schedule." He continued, "For improving the quality of life of our citizens and ensuring the sustainable development of our city, I ask for active support in securing national funding and resolving pending issues."
In response, National Assembly member Kim Seongwon said, "For resolving Dongducheon's pending issues and enabling its leap forward, the city and the National Assembly must work closely together," and added, "I will become a perfect 'one team' with Dongducheon City and pour all capabilities of the National Assembly into ensuring that the proposed key budget projects and long-cherished projects vital to the region's survival, such as the return of the military bases, are fully reflected in government policies and the national budget."
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