"Only Growth Remained, Integration Was Nowhere to Be Seen"... Min Hyungbae's Transition Committee Dissolved

Concludes 43-Day Activity... Unveils Plans for 200 Trillion Won Investment and $40,000 Income

Focus on Semiconductors and Corporate Attraction; Lacking Conflict Resolution and Citizen-Focused Strategies

43 Citizen Sovereignty Events Held, but Only Around 1,200 Participants

The Jeonnam Gwangju Great Transformation Committee, the transition team for Mayor Min Hyungbae of the Jeonnam Gwangju Integrated Special City, officially concluded its activities on July 20 after about 43 days of work.

There are positive assessments that the committee was able to set the direction and outline for city governance and policy amid initial confusion at the launch of the integrated special city. However, there is also criticism that the committee failed to adequately address key issues such as conflict resolution during the integration process, principles for balanced development, and citizen-focused policies that have a tangible impact.

The committee held its dissolution ceremony on the same day at the Jeonnam Government Complex in the integrated special city, under the subtitle "One Namdo, A Special City Opened Together with Public Servants of the Jeonnam Gwangju Integrated Special City."

At the event, the committee set ambitious goals, such as attracting 200 trillion won in global corporate investment, raising per capita income to 40,000 dollars, and achieving 500 trillion won in manufacturing sales by 2030. It also announced five main principles for city operation, seven major strategies, 40 policy initiatives, and 104 detailed action items, centering around themes such as rapid growth, balanced development, a basic welfare society, green city, and citizen sovereignty.

The committee's core policy focus was the fostering of future industries such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence, and energy. It envisaged an 896 trillion won semiconductor investment project as a turning point for regional growth, and plans to attract companies and talent with the goal of transforming Jeonnam and Gwangju into a new growth axis for South Korea.

Seungjoo Baek, Vice Chairman of the Jeonnam Gwangju Daejeon Transition Committee, is presenting the achievements made over the past 43 days at the disbandment ceremony of the transition committee held on the 4th floor Wangin Room of the Jeonnam Government Office in the Jeonnam Gwangju Integrated Special City on the 20th. Photo by Jinseok Shim

However, as the strategy leaned heavily on growth and large-scale investment attraction, it was criticized for lacking sufficiently concrete plans to adjust regional conflicts and for omitting details on the changes citizens can expect to experience in their daily lives post-integration. This has led to comments that "it was all about semiconductors, and the principles of integration were missing."

Jaeman Park, co-representative of Participation Autonomy 21, told this newspaper that while the efforts to prepare for an unprecedented wide-area local government integration in such a short time deserve recognition, "the transition team is not an organization for short-term achievements but for designing the direction and strategies for the next four years, so there are certainly notable regrets when considering its intended role."

Park identified the committee's greatest limitation as its overemphasis on the discourse of growth.

He said, "Of course, issues related to livelihoods and growth strategies are important, but with the team overly focusing on 'overwhelming growth,' issues directly connected to citizens' lives seem to have been pushed aside. There were plenty of hardware-focused policies—for example, those revolving around semiconductors and corporate attraction—but there was a lack of software strategies showing how integration would actually change citizens' lives."

He added, "For citizens to truly feel that the integration was worthwhile, there should have been clear blueprints for changes in daily life, administrative service improvement, and quality of life enhancements as well."

At the dissolution ceremony of the Jeonnam Gwangju Great Transformation Committee held on the 4th floor of the Jeonnam Government Building, Wangin Room, on the 20th, Min Hyungbae, Mayor of Jeonnam Gwangju Integrated Special City, is giving a greeting. Photo by Sim Jinseok

There has also been criticism that the committee's response strategies for numerous conflicts already foreseen during the integration process were insufficient. Since its launch, the integrated special city has been beset by various large and small conflicts related to civil service appointments, organizational restructuring, functional allocation between different government complexes, the issue of the national medical school, and region-specific development projects. Most of these issues could have been fully anticipated from the initial discussion stages of integration.

Park said, "Conflicts over appointments in the public sector, organizational arrangements, medical school issues, and clashes regarding regional development projects were all predictable before integration. The transition team should have presented a broad roadmap showing what principles would guide conflict resolution and how balanced regional development would proceed."

He continued, "On matters like allocating functions among government complexes, addressing regional imbalance, and dealing with the risk of regional decline, there was no clear principle for how decisions would be made or how citizens would be persuaded. The philosophy of the integration and conflict resolution systems are just as important as the growth strategy."

A senior official of the special city also noted a lack of internal communication during the transition team's activity.

This official said, "The lack of clear direction from the transition committee contributed to the recent personnel and organizational restructuring issues. Although there should have been efforts to listen to and reflect the voices of public servants working on the ground, matters were handled in an opaque manner that made it impossible to know how discussions were proceeding."

He added, "Because related information was not properly shared internally, public officials felt insecure and frustrated. To enhance the stability of unified administration, the policy decision-making process and standards should be made transparent and open to the public from the outset."

The principle of "citizen sovereignty," which the committee promoted as a core value, was also evaluated as having less tangible impact than expected.

According to the committee's activity white paper, the Citizen Sovereignty Committee held a total of 43 official events: 16 meetings, 25 roundtable discussions, and 2 town hall meetings. Of the 19 topics and policy tasks discussed in the various meetings and roundtables, 18 were reflected in policy and only 1 was not, according to the committee. In terms of numbers, this could be seen as a significant achievement.

However, overall participation comprised just 196 people at meetings, 633 at roundtables, and 370 at town hall meetings—a total of 1,199 participants. Considering possible overlaps, the actual number of unique participants may be lower. Given that the integrated special city serves 3.2 million citizens, the scale and representativeness of participation in shaping policy direction come into question.

Park said, "Although there were two official public communication events on the subject of citizen sovereignty, it is hard to say that continuous dialogue with diverse civil society groups took place. While there were committee members from the civic sector and opinions were shared in a separate committee, the process for broader public discussion was lacking."

He also remarked, "Integration is not just about merging administrative bodies but about building consensus among citizens. Going forward, policies that citizens can tangibly experience must be presented, and citizens should be able to participate meaningfully in the decision-making process."

Meanwhile, at the dissolution ceremony held on this day, Mayor Min Hyungbae said, "You have shown us the path to what the integrated special city must present first to its 3.16 million citizens. I will work together so that people can say Jeonnam and Gwangju truly made the right decision in becoming one."

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