{"id":243770,"date":"2026-02-10T17:05:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T08:05:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/news\/uncategorized\/2026\/02\/10\/gwangju-jeonnam-integration-lee-gae-ho\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T15:51:35","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T06:51:35","slug":"gwangju-jeonnam-integration-lee-gae-ho","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/news\/politics\/2026\/02\/10\/gwangju-jeonnam-integration-lee-gae-ho\/","title":{"rendered":"Gwangju-Jeonnam Integration: Can Lee Gae-ho Save the Region from Decline?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Lee Gae-ho, a Democratic Party member of the National Assembly representing Damyang, Hampyeong, Yeonggwang, and Jangseong, has officially announced his bid for Mayor of the proposed Jeonnam-Gwangju Special City. This new role would oversee the integrated administration of Jeonnam and Gwangju. <\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/contents-cdn.viewus.co.kr\/image\/2026\/02\/CP-2022-0013\/image-f8707847-b896-41e4-9f52-a77c6cbdf8c8.jpeg\" alt=\"&nbsp; Photo\" \/><figcaption>&nbsp; Photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n<p> Lee held back-to-back press conferences on the 10th at the Jeonnam Provincial Council and Gwangju City Council. He emphasized that merging Gwangju and Jeonnam is not optional but crucial for the region&#8217;s survival. &#8220;We aim to establish a &#8216;Southern Capital&#8217; as a pioneering model for locally-driven national development,&#8221; Lee stated. <br \/> Lee cited the Honam region&#8217;s structural crisis as his motivation for running. He explained, &#8220;Gwangju&#8217;s growth is slowing, while Jeonnam faces extinction due to rapid aging and population decline. Without combining Gwangju&#8217;s innovation with Jeonnam&#8217;s potential, we can&#8217;t overcome the concentration of resources in the Seoul metropolitan area.&#8221; <br \/> Lee clarified that the goal of administrative integration goes beyond mere expansion, focusing on enhancing citizens&#8217; quality of life. &#8220;The integrated city should be more than just a larger urban area. It must evolve into a thriving community where residents experience tangible improvements in their daily lives,&#8221; he asserted. Lee pledged to develop a major urban center in the southern region capable of rivaling Seoul. <br \/> Lee outlined three key priorities for realizing the Jeonnam-Gwangju Special City vision: establishing energy independence and promoting local production for local consumption, implementing a tiered electricity pricing system, and securing 20% of the proposed 150 trillion KRW (about 112.5 billion USD) National Growth Fund. He also presented four regional development strategies: creating an AI hub in Gwangju, revitalizing Jeonnam&#8217;s eastern region as a global economic and cultural center, developing the southwestern part of Jeonnam as a hub for renewable energy, maritime logistics, and fisheries, and establishing income safety nets for rural areas. <br \/> Positioning himself as the ideal candidate to lead the integrated city, Lee highlighted his extensive experience in both administration and politics. He emphasized his background as a civil service exam graduate with over 30 years of experience in Jeonnam and federal agencies. Lee also pointed to his four terms as a National Assembly member, his tenure as Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, and his role in party leadership. &#8220;I&#8217;ve worked alongside President Lee Jae-myung in shaping national policies. I&#8217;ll leverage my political acumen to secure the necessary funding and authority for our integrated city,&#8221; Lee stated. <br \/> Lee declared, &#8220;Unifying and transforming Gwangju and Jeonnam will be the crowning achievement of my political career.&#8221; He appealed for support, pledging to &#8220;dedicate all my efforts to ensuring a sustainable future for our region.&#8221; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lee Gae-ho officially announced his candidacy for the Gwangju-Jeonnam Special Mayor, emphasizing regional integration as essential for survival.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/contents-cdn.viewus.co.kr\/image\/2026\/02\/CP-2022-0013\/image-f8707847-b896-41e4-9f52-a77c6cbdf8c8.jpeg","footnotes":""},"categories":[278093],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-243770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Gwangju-Jeonnam Integration: Can Lee Gae-ho Save the Region from Decline?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Lee Gae-ho officially announced his candidacy for the Gwangju-Jeonnam Special Mayor, emphasizing regional integration as essential for survival.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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