Gyeonggi Province's Administrative Delays Leave Job Seekers in Despair

What is wrong with Gyeonggi Province?

Gyeonggi Province, which ranked last in the first quarter economic stimulus project performance evaluation conducted across 16 cities and provinces, sent official notices belatedly to its subordinate cities and counties regarding the "Finding Local History" government-funded job creation project, and in some cases failed to send them at all, revealing a gap in the province's administrative capabilities.

When this fact became known, municipal government officials and citizens working tirelessly on the front lines to create jobs expressed strong discontent with Gyeonggi Province's sluggish administration.

According to the National Institute of Korean History (Director Park Sang-deok) on the 18th, the "Finding Local History" project, which is part of the Hope Work Project initiative and supported by national funds, was announced. For this purpose, a project briefing session was scheduled for the 19th at the Government Complex Seoul, targeting civil servants from Seoul, Gyeonggi, Gangwon, and Jeju regions.

Prior to this, the National Institute of Korean History held a meeting with officials from 16 cities and provinces on the 7th to explain the project details, and it was decided that the province and cities would send official notices to their subordinate cities and counties. On the 11th, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety issued relevant guidelines to 16 cities and provinces, and on the 13th, the National Institute of Korean History did so again separately.

However, as of 3 p.m. on the 18th, the day before the project briefing session, Suwon City had not received any related official notice. Yongin City received its notice at 1:23 p.m. on the 18th, and Hwaseong City at 1:30 p.m.

After receiving a report that Gyeonggi Province failed to send related notices, leaving its subordinate cities and counties unaware, this newspaper began coverage. An official from the National Institute of Korean History expressed frustration, saying "this is unbelievable," leading to a farcical situation where direct verification work was conducted with Gyeonggi Province's cities.

City officials responsible for these matters said, "We are working day and night to revitalize the local economy and create more jobs, but the province is not properly communicating national fund projects to its subordinate cities and counties—how does this make sense?" and pointed out, "Though they are a higher-level authority, they seem to be taking this far too lightly."

An official from another city questioned, "Is it physically possible to receive a notice the day before and have relevant officials attend a project briefing the next day?" and expressed discontent, saying, "This isn't even 1960s-70s military-style culture—this is too much."

Kim Moo, age 62, from Taejang-dong in Suwon said, "My entire family sighs when I see my son, who has been unable to find a job after graduating from university and stays at home," and criticized strongly, saying, "When each job opportunity is precious, how can this be acceptable?"

Meanwhile, this newspaper requested confirmation from Gyeonggi Province officials regarding this matter, but they could not be reached, citing a meeting.

<<Keywords>>

The "Finding Local History Project" is one component of the government's "Hope Work Project," aimed at employment for low-income groups, creating a total of 300,000 jobs with 10 positions each across 246 cities and counties nationwide.

The Institute plans to unearth local historical records of all types—including documents, audiovisual materials, artifacts, books, and newspapers—through this project, under the auspices of record offices at 246 national local governments.

This year in particular, the Institute plans to focus on collecting records of past heads of local governments by municipality, as well as records of the Saemaul (New Village) Movement and the "4H Movement" from the 1960s-70s.