NAJU — The administration of Naju Mayor Yoon Byung-tae has marked 100 days since the start of his second term as mayor, the city's ninth local-autonomy term since 1995, in Jeonnam-Gwangju Special Metropolitan City.
The past 100 days were not about raising new slogans. They were a period of execution, aimed at linking the substantial growth foundations secured during the previous term to industry and jobs, tourism and farm income, and the daily lives of residents.
During his first term (the city's eighth local-autonomy term), Yoon secured a series of large projects, including an artificial sun research facility, a national energy industrial complex, the National Naju Energy Science Museum and a food tech research support center, cementing his image as an administrator who gets things done. His second term is the stage of turning those gains into actual change. The city is moving quickly from winning projects to carrying them out, from plans to tangible results, from possibility to performance.
The core pillars are energy, tourism and agro-life sciences. On top of these, the city plans to add a second round of public institution relocations and expanded metropolitan transport networks to emerge as the central city of the integrated Jeonnam-Gwangju era.
Energy Is the Most Powerful Growth Engine
The artificial sun research facility, with a total project cost of 1.2 trillion won (about $830 million), is the symbol of Naju's future industry. The city is accelerating follow-up procedures centered on the Wanggok-myeon area, and is looking beyond the research facility toward building a nuclear fusion research complex and an industrial cluster.
The national energy industrial complex has also entered full-scale development.
A total of 351.9 billion won will be invested in a 1.24 million-square-meter site in Deoksan-ri, Wanggok-myeon, to cluster companies in renewable energy, smart grids and power equipment. The city is also pursuing a "K-Grid Talent and Startup Valley" in partnership with Korea Institute of Energy Technology, building an energy ecosystem that runs from research and startups to corporate growth and local jobs.
The National Naju Energy Science Museum will add education and science culture functions to the energy industry. Targeting completion in 2030, the city aims to build the country's only energy-focused science museum and develop Naju into a hub for training future energy talent.
Yeongsan River Garden Drew 540,000 Visitors as Naju Tourism Expands
The 2026 Naju Yeongsan River Festival, held from the 7th to the 11th of this month, drew 540,000 visitors over five days. The Yeongsan River has emerged as the new face of Naju tourism.
In his second term, Yoon is expanding that success into year-round tourism. The city is pursuing designation of the Yeongsan River as a regional garden and then as a national garden in 2030, and is building a waterfront landmark connecting KTX Naju Station with the Yeongsan River Garden. It will link Deulseom and Dongseom islands, the Juksan Weir, the Jukseolheon garden and the Korean Peninsula-shaped observatory to complete a tourism belt combining ecology, gardens and leisure.
Two thousand years of history is another asset. Through designation as an ancient Mahan capital, the restoration of the Naju government office complex and the creation of a millennium history park, the city aims to turn its distinct historical identity into tourism competitiveness. Night performances and hands-on programs will be added around Geumseonggwan Hall, Naju Fortress and the Naju Stream to transform the city from a place people pass through into a place where they stay.
Sunlight Becomes Income, and Farm Products Become Industry
The "Naju-style sunlight income village" program is the starting point. Following Wolyang 1-ri in Donggang-myeon and Ogye 2-ri in Nampyeong-eup, eight additional villages were selected in a second round of applications, spreading a new rural income model in which residents share revenue from solar power generation.
The food tech research support center is another key card. With an investment of 10.5 billion won, the city will foster a food upcycling industry that converts low-value farm products and food byproducts into high-value materials and goods. The strategy expands agriculture beyond production into processing, demonstration and industrialization.
The city is also widening its growth base. In preparation for a second round of public institution relocations, Naju plans to cluster energy, agro-life sciences, information and communications, and arts and culture functions around the Bitgaram Innovation City. It is also working to attract major organizations, including the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation, the integrated headquarters of the five power generation companies and the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning.
Metropolitan transport networks will also be reworked in ways residents can feel. The city plans to streamline Gwangju-Naju metropolitan bus routes and develop the area around KTX Naju Station into a multimodal transfer hub, binding the Jeonnam-Gwangju living sphere into one.
Growth Ends With Residents' Lives
Naju is providing 200,000 won per resident in livelihood recovery support payments, and is pursuing the attraction of a comprehensive hospital for mothers and children, free city bus rides for older adults, an expansion of low-floor buses, the operation of an energy gifted education center and a 100-day responsibility guarantee program for young adults.
The core of Yoon's administration is clear: returning Naju's growth to the lives of its residents.
In particular, it does not stop at winning projects. The city links the projects it has won to industry, jobs, tourists, income and changes in residents' lives. If his first term was a time of proving Naju's potential, his second term is a time of making that potential real.
"We will firmly establish Naju's role as the central city of the integrated Jeonnam-Gwangju era, and we will attend carefully to livelihoods, health care, education and youth policy," Yoon said. "We will complete a great leap forward for Naju in which residents feel the change in their daily lives."