‘Quality of life’·‘Finding the right price’… On the 100th day of inauguration, provincial and provincial governors present a ‘blueprint’

(National Comprehensive = Yonhap News) Governors of cities and provinces across the country focused on presenting a blueprint for future development tailored to regional characteristics through press conferences and meetings held on the 100th day since the 9th popular election.

The main tasks to be promoted over the next four years were revealed, including strategies to transform and expand industrial structures centered on high-tech industries such as artificial intelligence (AI), bio, and semiconductors, and tangible policies that improve citizens' lives, quality, and income.

◇ Securing competitiveness through future industries

Provincial and provincial governors announced their efforts and achievements over the past 100 days to improve regional competitiveness and expressed their ambition to change the structure of the regional economy and secure growth engines through future and high-tech industries.

On the 7th, Daegu Mayor Chu Kyung-ho presented 'Change, Growth, and a Better Tomorrow' as the city administration's goals. The plan is to transform the industrial structure based on humanoid robot national high-tech strategic industry specialized complexes and smart city specialized complexes.

Incheon Mayor Park Chan-dae proposed the ‘Incheon Rerating (Finding the Right Value)’ initiative to ensure that the undervalued value of Incheon is properly evaluated. The goal is to develop Songdo, an important production base for the global bio industry, into a place where research and startups are possible, and to grow it into a global industrial city by combining AI with the existing airport and port logistics competitiveness.

It also presented a vision to grow Incheon into a representative city connected to the world by hosting the G20 summit in 2028 and building the 'Korean Peninsula East-West Peace Logistics Expressway' from Incheon Airport to Goseong, Gangwon-do.

Ulsan Mayor Kim Sang-wook set a goal to achieve results that citizens can feel by incorporating autonomous driving, humanoid, and industrial AI conversion (AX) into the existing manufacturing-centered industrial city.

Sejong Mayor Cho Sang-ho used the relocation of national central functions concentrated in the metropolitan area to Sejong City as an opportunity to take a leap forward.

In addition, the plan is to use Samsung Electro-Mechanics' investment plan of 8 trillion won, the construction of Daiso's logistics center, and the data center investment agreement as regional growth engines, and to support the hiring of local talent in the investment implementation process.

Gangwon Province Governor Woo Sang-ho announced plans to continue the region's growth engine by successfully attracting investment from large corporations, starting with the 'Donghae AI Data Center', which is scheduled to begin construction within the year.

Governor Woo, who explained that he is discussing investment conditions with SK in Gangneung, KT in Wonju, and Shinsegae in Chuncheon, said, "Changes in Gangwon-do have begun according to the strategy I set out."

Governor Shin Shin-han of North Chungcheong Province presented a goal of opening an era of 100 trillion won in regional gross domestic product in 2030 by creating Osong K-Bio Square, a high-tech semiconductor back-end process base, a major corporate AI transformation, K-Synchrotron Valley, and a hydrothermal energy specialized complex.

Jeonbuk Province Governor Lee Won-taek previously selected green hydrogen, physical AI, and hemp (industrial hemp) as the three major growth engines, and announced plans to create a 'virtuous cycle in which performance is accumulated and reinvested in the region' by creating a 5 trillion won perceived growth fund and expanding the company's growth ladder.

Jeonnam Gwangju Mayor Min Hyeong-bae plans to hold a press conference on the 100th day since the launch of the integrated special city on the 8th and reveal his vision for fostering future industries such as AI, semiconductors, and batteries.

◇ The growth standard is ‘citizen’s life’

The promise was made to focus not only on growth but also on policies that citizens can actually feel.

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon announced that going forward, all policy achievements will be judged based on how much the lives of citizens have improved.

The aim is to evaluate the city administration from the citizens' perspective, such as how much it has relieved citizens' housing anxiety rather than the amount of housing supplied, and how much it has secured citizens' mobility convenience rather than the scale of the transportation network expansion.

Gangwon plans to focus on improving residents' living conditions through shared housing for youth, Gangwon-style care, and improved public transportation, while North Chungcheong Province decided to strengthen the living base of residents by promoting support for starting a business and retrying, a military academy for the second stage of life, an emergency medical system, care for the elderly, and support for single-person households.

Jeonbuk proposed 'perceived growth' as its main tasks, including increasing the income of farmers and fishermen and strengthening welfare and care for the vulnerable.

Busan Mayor Jeon Jae-soo decided to hold an 'Open Weekly Policy Meeting' to communicate with citizens instead of holding an event commemorating the 100th day of inauguration on the 8th, with the same purpose as his first agenda of resolving people's livelihood issues on his first day in office.

At this event, major achievements and future policy directions in the 100th day since the 9th popular election were launched, including the Busan-style youth security system, welfare safety net construction strategy, and creation of a citizen-sovereign city, will be discussed.

◇ Remaining homework such as finances and solving pending issues

Resolving poor financial conditions and long-standing regional issues is also a task facing city and provincial governors.

Daejeon Mayor Heo Tae-jeong announced that he would review safety concerns as the city railway line 2 was changed to hydrogen and the tools were overly detailed during the previous mayor's term, but that he would do his best to keep the promise of completion in 2030.

Gyeonggi Province Governor Choo Mi-ae postponed a press conference scheduled for the 7th due to a setback in the supplementary budget.

A supplementary budget plan worth 42.242 trillion won was submitted, reflecting an expenditure restructuring of 546.5 billion won, but it was not processed during the session due to differences of opinion with the provincial council, and a compromise has not been found to date.

Gyeongsangnam-do Governor Park Wan-soo pointed out the limitations of local finances, saying that out of the annual budget of 14 trillion won, only 500 billion won of the budget can be used freely, and announced that he would pursue local issues without increasing debt.

Jeju is considering ways to resolve the age-old conflict over the second airport.

Jeju Governor Wi Sung-gon reaffirmed the existing policy to complete the collection of residents' opinions by the first half of next year through a deliberation process through the Conflict Mediation Council, summarize the province's position, and deliver it to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.