[June 3 Election] Park Hongryul: "Creating 10,000 Youth Jobs to Restore Mokpo's Population"

Proposal for Establishing a Dedicated Population Policy Agency
and Expanding Childbirth Incentives

Hongryul Park, the Mokpo mayoral candidate from the National Innovation Party, announced a population recovery policy for Mokpo, presenting plans to create a dedicated organization to address the population decline issue and to generate youth jobs.

Candidate Hongryul Park, running for mayor of Mokpo, explaining the proposal to establish the Population and Youth Agency to address the issue of population decline during a press conference on the 1st. Courtesy of candidate's campaign.

At a press conference held at 2:00 p.m. on June 1, Park stressed, "The population decline in Mokpo is the most urgent issue directly tied to the future development of the region," adding, "Population policies must be approached from a comprehensive perspective, linking them with work, industry, education, and culture."

Park pointed out, "Mokpo's population peaked at 245,000 in 2010 and has been declining since then," diagnosing that "population outflow to neighboring new towns and municipalities implementing basic income for rural and fishing villages, low birth rates and an aging population, and a lack of youth jobs are all complexly intertwined factors."

To address these issues, he announced the establishment of a dedicated organization for population policy, the "Population and Youth Agency."

Park explained, "By establishing the Population and Youth Agency, I will allocate approximately 50 billion won, which is about 5% of the city budget, and unify population policies for integrated management," adding, "Currently scattered population-related policies will be systematically managed through a single channel."

Regarding birth policies, Park also stated, "We will expand childbirth incentives to 5 million won for the first child, 10 million won for the second, and 15 million won for the third, creating a birth-friendly environment."

He also presented a plan to build an industrial base for youth job creation.

He emphasized, "We will attract a national industrial complex covering 600,000 pyeong in the Gohado area to bring in high-tech companies, such as those in artificial intelligence (AI) and renewable energy convergence industries. This will create 10,000 high-quality youth jobs and establish a virtuous population cycle where jobs lead to marriage, childbirth, and settlement."

Park diagnosed that Mokpo's population issue is difficult to solve at the level of a single local government and stressed the need for an integrated development strategy for the Southwest region.

He argued, "Policies by individual local governments to increase population have their limitations," and added, "It is necessary to build a self-sustaining city of 500,000 by enabling Mokpo, Muan, Shinan, and Yeongam to grow together as the Southwest region."

Park stated, "The population issue is a survival strategy for the region," and declared, "I will make Mokpo not a city that young people leave, but a city that young people return to." He added, "I hope that all mayoral candidates from each party will join forces to build a self-sustaining city of 500,000 in the Southwest region."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.