Gyeonggi Province Establishes Daily Communication System with Residents through 'Gyeonggi Love Citizen Participation Group'

Gyeonggi Province announced on the 21st that it will reflect residents' voices in policy and strengthen communication with residents through the 'Gyeonggi Love Citizen Participation Group.'

The Gyeonggi Love Citizen Participation Group is an organization designed to gather opinions from various sectors within the province and reflect them in provincial administration. Through open recruitment, 165 members were selected for the 4th term last month, and a total of 274 members, including 109 continuing from the 3rd term, will participate for two years beginning August 1st.

The province selected participation group members by evaluating their interest in provincial administration and activism according to geographical, gender, and age distribution quotas. As a result, the group is composed of diverse residents from their 20s to 70s, including office workers, farmers and fishermen, self-employed individuals, homemakers, and students.

The Gyeonggi Love Citizen Participation Group engages in activities including △participating in satisfaction surveys on major provincial projects and proposing improvements and supplementary measures △participating in citizen reviews and assessments for competitions, contests, and institutional evaluations △conducting function checks through user tests on computer systems such as apps and websites △participating in opinion-gathering events organized by the province, both online (such as discussion topic recruitment) and offline (such as seminars).

Last year, the group participated in human rights fact-finding surveys and monitoring for advancing residents' human rights, gathering opinions on activating resident populations in areas experiencing population decline, providing improvement suggestions for the Gyeonggi Culture Pass app, and gathering opinions on revitalizing development in areas returned by the U.S. military stationed in Korea.

Under the direction of Governor Choo Mi-ae, the province plans to introduce various communication methods starting this year so that the Gyeonggi Love Citizen Participation Group can become an example of communication innovation connecting the province and residents.

Accordingly, Governor Choo Mi-ae will directly participate in online Zoom meetings conducted by the Gyeonggi Love Citizen Participation Group to discuss major provincial issues with the participation group, including direct communication, and will establish various daily communication systems.

Governor Choo Mi-ae stated, "The governor directly communicating and listening to and responding to residents' opinions will serve as the foundation for administrative innovation. In a large area like Gyeonggi Province, we can achieve deeper communication by strengthening direct online communication without incurring large-scale budgets. Going forward, we will innovate various public-private cooperation communication methods in the province," expressing strong commitment to communication.

Hong Deok-soo, Director of the Gyeonggi Province Open Civil Affairs Office, said, "The citizen participation group, as representatives of 14.2 million residents, is expected to realize resident participation administration by reflecting diverse voices in policy and to increase empathy and understanding of provincial administration."