MUAN — Min Hyung-bae, mayor of Jeonnam-Gwangju Special Metropolitan City, has begun working on a permanent basis out of the city's Muan office to tackle pending issues in the southwestern region. After focusing on core agenda items such as the semiconductor industry from the Gwangju office since the merged city's launch, he now plans to extend the benefits of integration to the southwest.
At a news conference in the briefing room of the Muan office on the 12th, Min said he would "take the mayor's authority and responsibility directly to the places where unresolved tasks have piled up."
"It has been about 100 days since Jeonnam-Gwangju Special Metropolitan City was launched," he said. "During that time I have traveled constantly across all of Jeonnam and Gwangju to lay the groundwork for integration." He added: "Now the changes brought by integration must be felt in citizens' daily lives. True integration means every citizen enjoys equal rights and equal opportunities to grow, no matter where they live."
The first priority Min identified was the southwestern region, where issues directly affecting residents' lives are concentrated — gaps in critical and essential medical care, the relocation of a military airfield and efforts to boost traffic at Muan International Airport.
"The place that weighs most heavily on my mind right now is the southwest," he said. "I will handle the major issues directly from the Muan office and go into the field to listen to citizens."
He said he would move quickly in particular to close the region's gaps in medical care. "I will start with protecting citizens' right to life," Min said. "By building a self-sufficient regional medical system, I will fundamentally fill the gaps in critical and essential care in the southwest."
He also signaled a determination to confront the military airfield relocation head-on. "I will listen fully to the views of Muan County residents," he said, pledging to flesh out a support plan for the receiving area and to find practical solutions based on mutual benefit. He added that work to increase activity at Muan International Airport would also be accelerated.
Industrial strategy will likewise be reshaped around the southwest. Min said he would develop the Muan national industrial complex into a central pillar of the semiconductor ecosystem in the Honam region. The aim is to broaden semiconductor opportunities, pursued until now mainly around Gwangju, across the entire merged city.
"I have handled these issues personally to turn the semiconductor industry — a once-in-a-millennium opportunity for Honam — into reality," he said. "Going forward, I will make sure those gains spread across all of Jeonnam and Gwangju." Renewable energy in Shinan, the national AI computing center in Haenam and the shipbuilding base in Yeongam and Mokpo will also be tied together.
The strategy is to create new growth engines for the southwest. "Shinan has abundant renewable energy resources, including offshore wind and solar, and the Haenam national AI computing center took its first step this year," Min said. "If we connect those with the solid shipbuilding base in Yeongam and Mokpo, we can establish a new growth axis for the southwest." He added: "I will make sure industrial growth leads to real investment and jobs, and that the results return to citizens' lives."
Min repeatedly stressed a field-centered approach to city government at the news conference. The symbolism of integration, he said, must not stop at a change in administrative boundaries but must translate into changes citizens can feel in daily life. "I will go," he said. "I will go directly to where citizens are struggling, to where unresolved tasks have piled up." He added: "First I will untangle the long-standing problems of the southwest and build a foundation for new growth. That is why we chose integration."