Suwon Mayor Yeum Tae-young at Book Launch: "Running for Democratic Party's Top Committee Position Unavoidable Path for Local Autonomy"

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Seo Dong-young] Suwon Mayor Yeum Tae-young, who is preparing to run for the Democratic Party's top committee position, held a book launch event for his work "After COVID-19" on the 16th at Yi Hak-soon Bakery in Jangan-gu, Suwon.

"After COVID-19" contains Mayor Yeum's response following the infectious disease outbreak, thoughts on local autonomy and decentralization, and his direction on political matters.

The event, which began at 2 p.m. that day, attracted many visitors. They purchased books, took photos at photo zones, or left video messages supporting Mayor Yeum Tae-young's election as the Democratic Party's top committee member.

An event organizer stated, "We'll need to check exactly how many people attended," but added, "Despite the event being postponed from its originally scheduled date of the 12th, the enthusiasm has been hot."

Mayor Yeum Tae-young appeared at the venue at 5:30 p.m. that day and conducted a talk concert with Professor Kim Jun-hyuk from Hanshin University and Professor Jung Jae-hwan from Sungkyunkwan University.

Mayor Yeum introduced his book "After COVID-19" and explained his life and political views. The talk concert was broadcast live through the YouTube channel "Yeum Tae-young TV."

Prior to the talk concert, Mayor Yeum Tae-young stated, "Our society, facing the tremendous challenges of an infectious disease pandemic, will become a completely different world than before. I have compiled what we are experiencing now and what we must address going forward in this book. I hope it will be helpful."

Regarding his election to the top committee position, he pledged, "I believe it is an unavoidable path for true local autonomy and decentralization. I want to complete my mission of ensuring that central politics reflects conditions at the local level and is not trapped in Yeouido politics."

Meanwhile, Mayor Yeum plans to enter the race for the Democratic Party's top committee position at the National Assembly on the 20th. If successful, he would become the first politician at the level of a basic municipal chief executive to reach the Democratic Party's top committee position. In 2015, Park Woo-seop, then head of Incheon's Nam-gu District, and in August 2018, Hwang Myung-sun, mayor of Nonsan, Chungcheongnam Province, challenged the position but failed.