Lee Jae-myung: "Gyeonggi Province is now a firm center of Korea...let's build a fair world together"

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Park No-hoon] On the occasion of Gyeonggi Province Citizens' Day, Governor Lee Jae-myung stated, "Gyeonggi Province is no longer the outskirts of Seoul but has become a firm center of Korea," and urged, "Let us feel pride and responsibility, and together move toward a new Gyeonggi and a fair world through supporting the weak and restraining the strong."

The 3rd Gyeonggi Province Citizens' Day Commemoration held on the 17th at Gyeonggi Sangsang Campus in Seodun-dong, Suwon, was attended by around 30 people including Governor Lee, National Assembly member Baek Hye-ryeon, Gyeonggi Province National Assembly Speaker Jang Hyun-guk, Provincial Assembly Operations Committee Chair Jung Seung-hyun, and Peace Vice Governor Lee Jae-gang.

In his commemorative address, Governor Lee said, "The owners of Gyeonggi Province are its citizens. Since taking office, I am proud that I have worked closely with civil servants to ensure the province's budget and authority are used solely for citizens and Gyeonggi's development," and added, "As a result, as achievements accumulate in various areas, it seems citizens have come to take pride in being people of Gyeonggi Province."
He continued, "Gyeonggi Province is home to over one-quarter of Korea's population, and its importance in terms of economic power and other factors needs no further mention. Bordering North Korea, we also bear responsibility for reunification and inter-Korean exchanges and cooperation," emphasizing that "Gyeonggi Province is now not somewhere remote or peripheral but a firm center of Korea, so I hope we all feel corresponding pride and sense of responsibility."
Governor Lee also stated, "The motto of Gyeonggi Province's provincial administration is 'New Gyeonggi, Fair World,' and a fair world is the only way to ensure our community remains intact," urging citizens' participation and saying, "To create a world of harmony and coexistence, we must restrain the arbitrary abuse by the strong and definitely improve the unfortunate situations of the weak majority."

Due to COVID-19, the commemoration was scaled down and subsidiary events were omitted. The ceremony included the presentation of the 'Gyeonggi Province Citizens' Awards' to eight citizens selected by field for contributing to community development, as well as the recitation of the Citizens' Charter.

The '2nd Gyeonggi Province Citizens' Policy Festival,' a venue for realizing 'deliberative democracy' where citizens directly participate to propose and decide on policies, proceeded both online and offline from the 16th through the 17th.
Policy forum participants were distributed across five outdoor booths at Gyeonggi Sangsang Campus and held spirited discussions on 15 debate topics across three sessions: morning and afternoon on the 16th, and morning on the 17th.
The debate agendas discussed at this festival included ▲Challenges of welfare governance in the COVID-19 situation ▲Changes in Gyeonggi Province's food security project after COVID-19 ▲Direction for Gyeonggi Province citizens' broadcasting participation through the 'observer's perspective' ▲Are alternative early childhood education institutions left out of free meal provisions? ▲Design proposals for Gyeonggi Province's village policy platform ▲'The right to menstruate with peace of mind' for all young women!(Meaning and tasks of Gyeonggi Province's universal provision) ▲Promoting Gyeonggi Province-style Green New Deal in response to climate and COVID-19 crises ▲Direction of cultural and arts policy in the COVID-19 era and basic income for artists ▲Building a local circular economy system for Gyeonggi Province citizens ▲Realizing mid-to-long-term collaborative governance processes for Gyeonggi Province ▲In the post-COVID era, reconsidering home-based childcare (Implementation plan for Gyeonggi Province's grandparent childcare support subsidy policy) ▲Disabled call taxis want to run!(Plan for integrated operation of special transportation for transportation disadvantaged in the Seoul metropolitan area) ▲How to structure a network of organizations for youth rights support in Gyeonggi Province? ▲Proposing democratic citizenship education and diverse-value citizen processes ▲Dreaming of a forest village–Proposal for shared tree management policy in apartment complexes.
In the final comprehensive discussion session, 15 policy debate organizations that organized the policy forums presented discussion results and organized opinions, concluding the policy festival.

Gyeonggi Province plans to categorize the debate agendas and opinions addressed in the policy festival by department, with each department going through multiple processes of public deliberation including meetings and evaluation reports to reflect them in provincial policies.