South Jeolla Governor Lee Nak-yeon: The Six Trillion Won Plan
Photos Courtesy of South Jeolla Provincial Office
South Jeolla Province, or Jeonnam for short, has many islands, most of them inhabited by elderly people, the young having left for urban life. It also has many transnational-marriage families in its rural areas. These people are among the underprivileged vying for the attention of Governor Lee Nak-yeon; he is responsible for improving their welfare as governor.
On the other hand, the governor needs to raise the income level for the entire province, and he has to raise provincial cash cows if he is to fatten pockets. For this purpose, he is focusing on a new town built to be the new home of Korea Electric Power Corp., one of the largest government-invested corporations in the nation, and other government-invested or funded organizations.
Proper care for the underprivileged and attracting corporate investments into a province with inferior infrastructure are daunting tasks for Lee, and yet they are the tip of the iceberg. The variety of projects he is committed to ranges from the greening of Jeonnam to the building of a structure for “low-cost, high-income” agriculture.
But people in Jeonnam may find solace in remembering that not many would be better positioned to do the job than Lee, who developed connections first as a student at the Law College of Seoul National University, later as a highly regarded journalist and finally as a veteran member of the National Assembly. He does not mention his old-boy network in referring to an increase in the amount of money his province is set to take from the central government, but it undoubtedly worked when the national budget allocated 5.3 trillion won for the province this year, up a whopping 11 percent from last year. As a consequence, the 2015 provincial budget has surpassed the 6 trillion won mark for the first time.
Nine months having passed since his inauguration, now is a good opportunity for him to look back on his past performance and reexamine his projects that are being implanted. Here is what he has shared with Gwangju News.
Gwangju News (GN): Is there anything you regret about when you look back on your nine months of governance?
Lee: I wouldn’t say all I have done is satisfactory. But I think I have laid the cornerstone of hope during that period of time.
The increase in the provincial budget has made it possible to start building a cluster of factories in the Gwangyang Bay area for the manufacture of basic chemical materials and run a technical center in Suncheon to assist corporations in basic manufacturing processes such as welding, molding, surface treatments and heat treatments.
It [has now been made] possible to restart work on the railroad linking Mokpo and Boseong after an eight-year break, start construction of the high-speed rail linking Songjeong and Mokpo as part of the Honam KTX project, and launch other big-ticket projects.
Yet, I wouldn’t say I have no regrets. Though I have worked hard to create jobs and raise income for people in our province, I find few economic indicators have improved remarkably as the economic conditions are worsening both in the nation and in the outside world.
In addition, we grieved over the sinking of the Sewol ferry, a fire in a hospital providing facilities for senior citizen care in Jangseong and another fire at a pension in Damyang.
GN: What do you have in mind when you are going ahead with your project to turn islands into places worth visiting for a vacation?
Lee: We have 2,219 large and small islands in our province, more than 65 percent of all islands in the nation. These are highly valuable assets for us. We are working hard to promote them as places worth visiting for their unique natural environment, culture and history.
In a ten-year project, we will select 24 islands (to develop them as tourist attractions) that are renowned for their scenery, ecosystems, history and cultural asset… We will select six for the project this year and continue to add two each year.
We will help develop tourism themes for the islands, such as a dinner table with dishes prepared with island specialties, home stays in fishing villages and island festivals. These tourism themes will help increase income for the island residents.
GN: What do you mean when you propose to build a “wooded Jeonnam?”
Lee: The project is aimed at turning large parts of the province into wooded land and parks and raising the value of forests. It is also aimed at raising the value of public benefits from the provincial forests, which was estimated at 14 trillion won in 2013, to 30 trillion won when it is completed in 2024.
We will create two kinds of wooded land — one for scenery and the other for income. For scenery, we are planning to plant beautiful trees… Urban areas will have more parks and forests in addition to trees planted along the roads and the streams.
High-value trees will be planted on hills, in marginal agricultural lands, reclaimed lands and public lands to help raise the income of the residents. They will include trees for building materials, fungus cultivation and charcoal making as well as nut trees and honey trees. We will have large plots of land for pomegranate trees in Goheung, walnut trees in Jangeung and camellias in Wando.
These two key projects of mine are not likely to produce any tangible results in the short term, and it may not be possible for our generation to benefit from them, either. Yet, when they are successfully implemented, we will be able to leave valuable assets behind for our future generations.
GN: What is your plan for Chinese tourists visiting South Jeolla?
Lee: For Chinese tourists, we will spruce up Chinese-related historical sites, such as a shrine dedicated to Zhu Xi, a renowned Song Dynasty Confucian scholar, in Hwasun and another shrine in Haenam for Chen Lin, a Ming Dynasty general and admiral, who was dispatched to Korea in 1598 to help repel the Japanese invasion.
In addition, Chinese will find it easy to visit our province. Chinese charter flights will get easier access to Muan International Airport and Chinese cruise ships to Yeosu Port. We are promoting our province in China, too — running promotional pavilions at expositions, sending promotional teams to travel agencies and starring popular entertainers in promotional video clips for broadcasting.
GN: Your incipient “100-won-taxi-ride” project is gaining popularity. Are you planning to expand it?
Lee: It is a project that allows residents of villages where no bus service is available to call a taxi for a ride to the nearest bus stop for 100 won, with the difference being subsidized by the municipalities concerned.
We ran pilot programs in two counties, Boseong and Hwasun, last year. They were very popular among residents. Six more municipalities have since been running the programs and five more will follow suit when the administrative procedures are completed this year.
Concerns that residents would call taxis more frequently than necessary have proved to be unwarranted. It is confirmed that they called taxis when it was necessary to visit a hospital or their children.
GN: The province under your governance has been promoting a “low-cost, high-income” agriculture. Now you are putting an emphasis on organic farming. What is your plan for eco-friendly agriculture?
Lee: The era of organic farming is opening now, with the certification of low-level pesticide use scheduled to be abolished in 2016. Though next year will be the first year of certified organic farming nationwide, we are starting it in our province this year.
Currently, our province accounts for 50 percent of the nation’s agricultural products certified as environment-friendly. We will try to keep our share of the nation’s agricultural products certified as organic above the 50 percent level.
To keep the sale of environment-friendly agricultural products steady, we will ensure that all rice supplied to nurseries, kindergartens, elementary schools, middle schools and high schools is organically grown.
GN: Korea Electric Power Corp. and other government-invested corporations have now moved into Naju. What will you do to create more jobs and encourage more investments in the city?
Lee: We are trying to get the most out of their relocation by encouraging their suppliers and businesses under their supervision to move into Naju, while training skilled manpower for employment in the city in cooperation with other government agencies and municipalities. Encouraging in this regard is Korea Electric Power Corp.’s plan to create an “energy valley in the city of light and water” by inviting 500 energy businesses to relocate themselves into the city by 2020.
For its part, our provincial government is working on its own plan to build a cluster of information-communication technology businesses and content providers as well energy companies. In what we call a “5/6/700 Roadmap,” we are planning to work with five agencies — KEPCO, KEPCO KDN, the Korea Post Information Center, the Korea Internet and Security Agency and the Korea Creative Content Agency — to relocate 700 corporations to Naju in six years.
GN: Jeonnam has so many transnational-marriage families. What policy do you have for foreign women married to Korean men and their children?
Lee: Our provincial government has created an exclusive office for women and families and empowered it to handle matters concerning transnational-marriage families.
To make use of their native language skills, we are running programs of hiring those immigrants as language teachers in after-school classes, as language and culture instructors at multi-cultural centers and lifetime educational institutions and as tourist guides. Some of those proficient in the Korean language are hired to give advice to new arrivals from their native countries and work as interpreters for them at hospitals and other public institutions.
We are also running a variety of educational programs to assist them in overcoming cultural and social difficulties they encounter here and in settling in our society. The programs include Korean language classes, from which 21,000 people benefited in 2014, and cross-cultural classes, from which 61,000 people, mostly parents-in-law and spouses of immigrant women, benefited last year.
GN: What message do you have for foreigners reading the Gwangju News?
Lee: The provincial government is trying to help them settle in our society without too much difficulty and prevent them from being isolated or discriminated against. At the same time, I urge foreign residents to be open-minded, try to understand Korea and Jeonnam, help them promote diversity in the society, economy and culture and take pride in the contributions they are making.
Choi Nam Hyun is a former editor-in-chief of the Korea Herald