Yoon Nan-sil, the newly appointed Deputy Mayor for Citizen Sovereignty in Gwangju, pledged to enhance administrative operations and collaboration based on citizen participation just two days after her appointment.
The Gwangju Metropolitan City announced that Yoon attended the 'Civic Public Open Day' on October 10 at Jeonil Building 245 in Dong-gu, where she discussed community development strategies with representatives from civic organizations.
Yoon's visit aimed to directly hear the voices from the civic sector and share the value and role of public activities.
During the event, Yoon toured the venue to observe the key activities and achievements of civic organizations and encouraged the efforts of those involved in public activities.
She also exchanged views with civic organization representatives on local issues, emphasizing the need for ongoing communication and collaboration between the administration and civic society.
The event, organized by the Gwangju Civic Support Center, took place over two days starting October 9, allowing civic organizations and public activity leaders to share their achievements and engage with citizens.
It particularly aimed to provide a platform for citizens to understand various public activities in their community and to encourage voluntary participation.
Yoon highlighted that citizen participation and public activities are crucial drivers for change and development in the integrated special city.
She also pointed out the importance of participatory administration, which moves away from a one-sided approach where the administration decides policies and citizens merely follow, to one where citizen input is reflected in the policy-making, implementation, and evaluation processes.
Yoon Nan-sil stated, “The integrated special city is a citizen-led city where participation extends from policy formation to implementation and evaluation. I will closely communicate and collaborate with civic society to ensure that citizens' voices are reflected in policies and that the citizen-led city is established promptly.”
This visit is significant as interest grows in how to build a cooperative relationship between civic society and the administration following the administrative integration of Gwangju.
However, to connect citizen participation to actual policy decision-making, it will be essential to establish a concrete operational system that goes beyond merely gathering opinions to include policy reflection and sharing of results.
Meanwhile, Yoon Nan-sil was appointed on October 8, and her attendance at the Civic Public Open Day marks the beginning of her engagement with civic society. It remains to be seen how the citizen-led administration emphasized by the integrated special city will be concretized in future policy-making and implementation processes.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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