Mayor Yoon Jang-hyun’s Community-Based Vision

“International residents here should be considered members of the community,” Dr. Yoon Jang-hyun said on the morning of June 14, two weeks from becoming mayor.

His vision for foreign residents in Gwangju is the same as for all others: becoming an integral part of the strong community encapsulated in his policy proposals. In his interview with Gwangju News, he argued that migrant workers should not be marginalized, even those who are not legally allowed to work or live in Korea. Yoon “would like to provide them services, including medical and other social services for them not to be excluded from society.”

In the lead up to the June 4th local elections, many were calling the vote a major evaluation of the Park Geun-hye government. For Gwangju, traditionally a stronghold for the opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD), the contest played out between the incumbent Kang Un-tae, running as an independent, and the NPAD’s comparatively little-known candidate, Yoon Jang-hyun. Despite some controversy around Yoon’s appointment, he was elected with over 57% of the vote.

Although relatively new to mainstream politics, Yoon has extensive experience working with community groups and NGOs. As a result, many of his policy proposals focus on community development and outreach. When asked about his comparatively limited experience in politics, Yoon explained that he feels his time working with NGOs has left him well prepared for this task. Through a translator he explained that, “the environment in NGOs is generally focussed on the betterment of the society and this is the same whether it is in the NGO or governmental area; the scope of my activities has just expanded.”

Building on his roots as a student activist under South Korea’s military dictatorship, Yoon certainly has a wealth of experience with NGOs, most of it centred on human rights and community support. His résumé features terms as both the Local and National Director of the YMCA, involvement with the Beautiful Store (an environmental NGO), organization of the Citizens Solidarity group, the position of Vice-Chairman of the Catholic Peace and Justice Commission, and ongoing position as a board member of the Asian Human Rights Commission.

One of Yoon’s major projects from 1993 to 1998 was organizing a series of international conferences to bring attention to the May 18th events in Gwangju while expressing support for those living under repressive regimes. These conferences were part of the preparations for drafting the Asian Human Rights Charter, which was declared, at Yoon’s suggestion, in Gwangju on May 17th, 1998. Despite years of discussions, drafting and public consultation, the charter is not a legally binding document. Rather, according to the preamble, it is “part of an attempt to create in Asia a popular culture of human rights.”

“I want to expand the concept of human rights [to include] economic human rights,” Yoon said when asked about challenges facing South Korea. Compared to the traditional view of human rights, which Yoon characterized as legal or political, social and economic human rights receive less attention and are equally or more important in a community that has already shed its overtly oppressive regime. According to Yoon, there are two major components to consider: “job security for those who want to work … and social services for those who cannot work. Without these two in balance we cannot guarantee social economic justice or human rights of the citizens.”

“Making the city safe for the citizens [and ensuring that] even the weakest of the weak are protected” is Yoon’s first priority. Community input and spirit are at the heart of Yoon’s plans to ensure that these goals become a reality. Communities take care of those who cannot take care of themselves. “Public service,” he explained, “should be like a flow of the water so that the lower part of society should be provided better services.”

“Social welfare is an issue of human rights and the community should secure safe life for the weak people,” Yoon explained. In his view, there is little distinction between those born in Gwangju and those who have arrived from elsewhere. Everyone is part of the community and no group has a monopoly on need. When discussing the fact that several people have died of hunger and a lack of electricity, Yoon stated: “I want to make sure that nobody will be excluded from those kinds of minimum services.”

While the social welfare problems have several different facets, Yoon traced one of the sources to “neo-liberalism keeping the money at the top [resulting in] many people suffering from the lack of materials for a better life.” He links this inequality to the lack of job security for young people. To combat this problem, Yoon plans to foster job creation in Gwangju, particularly in the motor and electronic sectors. One of his dreams for the future is to have a motor industry valley centred on Gwangju. Paired with visions of industrial development, Yoon hopes that the opening of the Asian Culture Complex next year will allow further promotion of cultural tourism in Gwangju.

In keeping with his argument for balance and community, Yoon has developed an ambitious plan to create support for people currently living on the edge of society. According to Yoon, this neglected demographic includes orphans, elderly citizens and migrant workers. The project would renovate unoccupied housing to create clusters of complexes throughout Gwangju, with the side benefit of preventing areas of the city from becoming depopulated. Ultimately, the goal of these complexes is to create a “community including housing services [so people can] support themselves in their own community.”

Yoon also hopes to expand Gwangju’s role on the global stage, not only as a leader in human rights but as a direct participant in disaster relief and assistance. Recently, Yoon helped organize the development of the Gwangju Clinic, a medical clinic in Cambodia supported by the people of Gwangju. Yoon hopes to see similar projects in the future. He argued that “we should not forget that human dignity should not be violated either by the state or even by a natural calamity, so wherever that kind of tragic incident happens we have to extend our assistance to those who are suffering.”

Yoon asserted that human rights discussions must include input from all levels of society. As such, Yoon suggested that human rights events overemphasize input from scholars and administrators without seeking equal input from more vulnerable sectors of society. Taking last May’s World Human Rights Cities Forum as an example, Yoon said: “I would like to expand that kind of event to include the weakest part of society. Without that kind of extension, the forum will be meaningless.”

With controversial issues such as services for non-legal migrant workers on his agenda, we can only wait and see if Yoon will be able to overcome the political hurdles to keeping community at the centre of his plan, but if Yoon succeeds in applying such ambitious principles and plans, Gwangju is headed for significant changes.