Kim Sung-je, Mayor of Uiwang, Wins 'Grand Prize' at 2025 WFPL 8 Local Government Innovation Evaluation

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Park Chan-hyeok] Kim Sung-je, Mayor of Uiwang, received the honor of winning the 'Grand Prize' at the 2025 WFPL 8 Local Government Innovation Evaluation awards ceremony held on the 19th at the conference room of the National Assembly Members' Hall.

At the 2025 WFPL 8 Local Government Innovation Evaluation jointly hosted by the Government Evaluation Committee (GEC) and State-Owned Enterprise Evaluation Committee (SEC) under the World Federation of Young Leaders (WFPL), the World Press Association (WPA), and National Assembly Member Lee Jung-moon, Mayor Kim received the highest evaluation score and was selected as the 'Grand Prize' recipient.

The WFPL Local Government Innovation Evaluation aims to award outstanding leaders who have contributed to paradigm shifts in local governance by preventing unnecessary tax waste through efficient use of local government budgets and promoting regional economic recovery, consideration for the socially underprivileged, and establishment of healthy educational environments.

The 2025 WFPL 8 Local Government Innovation Evaluation applied the self-developed evaluation index 'WF Local Government Innovation Index (WFLGII)' and selected award winners through comprehensive evaluation of 10 categories, 19 sub-items, and 120 detailed indicators.

As Mayor of Uiwang during the 5th and 6th popular elections and the 8th popular election, Kim Sung-je devoted his utmost efforts to building Uiwang as a premium city, particularly successfully promoting large-scale urban development projects such as Baegun Valley and Jangan District, and strengthening the city's self-reliant functions through corporate recruitment and industrial complex development.

Additionally, he discovered tourism resources including the Uiwang Rail Bike and Bara Mountain Nature Retreat, strengthened on-site communication through citizen participation such as operating the "visiting mayor's office," and made extensive efforts in education and welfare closely related to citizens' lives. He established the foundation for becoming an excellent education city through differentiated education policies such as opening math clinic centers and career guidance counseling centers, and contributed greatly to improving citizens' quality of life by promoting the "free senior bus pass support program" and the "senior healthy living plus program" for seniors' healthy retirement.

In particular, Uiwang is currently creating a pleasant urban environment through large-scale urban development projects including Hocheon District, Chopyeong District, Wolam District, and Cheonggye 2nd District, and the Uiwang-Gunpo-Ansan 3rd New City, and is actively undertaking projects to establish metropolitan transportation networks including the Dong-in Line and Wolpan Line as well as GTX-C Line service at Uiwang Station. The city was recognized for its contributions to achieving innovative development.

Mayor Kim Sung-je said, "I am very pleased to have my efforts to make Uiwang a livable city recognized in this local government innovation evaluation," and added, "Going forward, I will do my best to create Uiwang, the most livable premium city in the nation, through active and innovative administration for our citizens."