○ 3rd Gyeonggi Province Residents’ Day Ceremony and 2nd Gyeonggi Province Residents’ Policy Festival take place at Gyeonggi Sangsang Campus on October 17
○ 3rd Gyeonggi Province Residents’ Day Ceremony – Gyeonggi Province Resident Prize awarded and Gyeonggi Province Resident Charter recited
○ 2nd Gyeonggi Province Residents’ Policy Festival runs for two days – Residents participated online and offline in active discussions via “a venue for sustainable deliberative democracy”

In celebration of Gyeonggi Province Residents’ Day, Governor Lee Jaemyung said, “Gyeonggi Province is no longer on the outskirts of Seoul, but has instead become the center of Korea. Let’s feel confidence and responsibility, while properly distributing power, to make a new Gyeonggi and a fair world.

Along with Governor Lee, over 30 officials including National Assembly Member Baek Hye-ryeon, Gyeonggi Province Assembly Chair Jang Hyun-guk, Gyeonggi Province Assembly Operations Committee Chair Jeong Seung-hyun, and Vice Governor for Peace Lee Jae-gang attended the 3rd Gyeonggi Province Residents’ Day Ceremony that took place at the Gyeonggi Sangsang Campus in Seodun-dong, Suwon City, on October 17.

In his remarks, Governor Lee said, “Gyeonggi residents are the owners of Gyeonggi Province. Since taking office, I can confidently say that my colleagues and I have been using the budget and power of Gyeonggi Province only for the people and development of Gyeonggi. As a result, achievements have been realized in various areas, allowing people to take pride in being residents of Gyeonggi Province.”

He also stressed, “The significance of Gyeonggi Province cannot be overemphasized, as more than a quarter of the population of the Republic of Korea resides in this area. We also have responsibility for exchanges and cooperation with North Korea as we border North Korea. Gyeonggi Province is no longer the outskirts of a certain region. We are the center of Korea, and we all should feel proud and responsible for it.”

Governor Lee added, “The motto of our province is, ‘New Gyeonggi, Fair World.’ A fair world is the only key for a sustainable community. To create a fair world in which everyone can coexist, we have to control unilateral oppression by those with power and speak for the weak so as to make their voices heard.”

The occasion, which had been minimized in accordance with COVID-19 protocols, saw the awarding of the Gyeonggi Province Resident Prize to eight residents who had contributed to local development and the reciting of the Charter of Gyeonggi Province Residents.

Moreover, during the 2nd Gyeonggi Province Residents’ Policy Festival, a forum for realizing deliberative democracy by residents personally participating in proposing and deciding on policies, was conducted online and offline for two days from October 16 to 17.

Policy discussion attendees were assigned to five different outdoor booths on Gyeonggi Sangsang Campus and ardently engaged in discussions of 15 topics over a total of three sessions during the morning and afternoon of October 16 and the morning of October 17.

The items discussed at this festival were: the challenges of welfare governance amid the COVID-19 pandemic; changes in Gyeonggi Province’s food guarantee project in a post-COVID-19 world; the direction of Gyeonggi Province resident participation in broadcasting; alternative infant education institutions as blind spots for free meals; suggestions for formulating Gyeonggi Province village policies; menstruation issues faced by young women as well as the value of Gyeonggi Province’s universal feminine hygiene product supply imitative; Gyeonggi Province’s ‘Green New Deal’ initiatives in response to climate change and the COVID-19 crisis; policy directions for arts and culture during the COVID-19 pandemic and basic income for artists; the creation of a regional circular economic system for Gyeonggi residents; the realization of a cooperative process for Gyeonggi Province’s mid- to long-term plans; reconsideration of family care in a post-COVID-19 era (including plans for implementing child-raising allowance for grandparents in Gyeonggi Province); call taxis for persons with disabilities (including methods for integrated transportation operation for persons with disabilities in the metropolitan area); the organization of a group network to support youth rights in Gyeonggi Province; democratic education and processes for diversity; and green community policy proposals for joint management of trees in apartment complexes.

The last program of the event, which was a comprehensive discussion, saw the 15 groups who hosted policy discussions announce their results and wrap up the festival.

Gyeonggi Province plans to analyze the items and ideas that were discussed during the festival and will distribute the results to appropriate provincial departments, each of which will then work reflecting the results in the policies of Gyeonggi Province.