Preliminary Goyang mayoral candidate Min Kyungseon
Holds a “Listening Tour” roundtable on livelihoods
Heated debate with social enterprise and merchants representatives
Preliminary candidate for Goyang mayor Min Kyungseon is accelerating the development of citizen-focused policies by continuing an on-site, livelihood-focused “Listening Tour.” On the morning of the 25th, the preliminary candidate held the seventh roundtable discussion at Ilsan Hansol Core with representatives of social economy organizations and local merchants in Goyang City, and held a debate on revitalizing the local economy.
Min Kyungseon, preliminary candidate for Goyang mayor. Provided by Min Kyungseon, preliminary candidate.
The roundtable was attended by key players in the local economy, including Heo Seonju, President of the Goyang Social Economy Association; Yoon Jaeho, President of the Goyang Social Enterprise Council; and Park Yongsuk, CEO of Bab Bread, as well as Park Haekyun, President of the Ilsan Traditional Market Merchants Association, and Park Mikyung, President of the Lafesta Merchants Association.
President Heo pointed out that “Goyang has more than 460 social economy organizations, yet there is no control tower to support them,” and strongly called for the establishment of a “Social Economy Policy Council” directly under the mayor and the creation of a “Social Economy Cluster.”
Next, President Yoon proposed that “a bold decision is needed to raise public institutions’ purchases of social products from the current 9% to 20%,” and added that “the relevant departments should be reorganized so that the social economy can be fostered from an industrial perspective, not as part of welfare.”
Hard-hitting voices from the field were also heard from the heads of merchants associations, who are responsible for the local commercial districts. Park Haekyun, President of the Ilsan Traditional Market Merchants Association, appealed, “One-off support such as simple facility improvements is not the answer,” and stressed, “We urgently need practical management support measures that will enable traditional markets to be self-sustaining as the roots of the local economy.”
Park Mikyung, President of the Lafesta Merchants Association, referred to the recent surge in business app fraud targeting small business owners and requested, “Please establish a city-level system for rapid information provision and security support so that merchants who lack information do not suffer damage.”
Lastly, Bab Bread CEO Park Yongsuk called for the establishment of governance. Park said, “We need a system that clearly defines roles and responsibilities so that the administration is in charge of fair resource allocation, intermediary support organizations focus on on-site support, and the actual business is carried out in the best way by the organizations directly involved.”
After attentively listening to the flood of proposals from the panelists, preliminary candidate Min Kyungseon expressed a strong will for administrative innovation, repeatedly mentioning former Governor Lee Jaemyung in his responses. The preliminary candidate said, “I will transplant to Goyang the decisiveness and transparency that former Governor Lee Jaemyung demonstrated in governing Gyeonggi Province,” and promised, “If I become mayor, I will make executive meetings public and establish a ‘direct civil complaint system to the mayor’ so that I can completely remove the thresholds of the mayor’s office and communicate directly with the field.”
Regarding support measures for the social economy in particular, he responded, “Just as former Governor Lee Jaemyung laid the foundation for a local circulation economy through local currency, I, Min Kyungseon, will, with Lee Jaemyung-style bold drive, raise the public procurement ratio and elevate the social economy to a core industry of Goyang City.”
He then concluded the roundtable by stating that “instead of one-off events, I will have citizens directly verify the policy implementation process through quarterly town hall meetings,” and announced plans to concretize the proposals gathered from the field that day into key campaign pledges.
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