Hwaseong Mayor Chae In-seok Completes 522km National Grand Journey

Hwaseong Mayor Chae In-seok completed a 522km National Grand Journey over 21 days from August 24, when he held a launch ceremony in Haenam, Jeollanam-do, through September 13.

Mayor Chae conducted a nationwide signature campaign while undertaking this National Grand Journey to address three major issues for Hwaseong: "national funding support for Maehyangri Peace Ecology Park," "attracting the National Natural History Museum to Hwaseong," and "withdrawal of Hwaseong Lake desalination and demand for seawater circulation."

Mayor Chae collected approximately 200,000 signatures and submitted them to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs on the 12th, and to the Prime Minister's Office and National Assembly on September 13, upon completing the National Grand Journey.

On the 13th, following completion of the National Grand Journey, Mayor Chae held a press conference at the National Assembly, where he explained his hope that the realities of local governments would be conveyed to the central government, and outlined the pending issues that Hwaseong is demanding from the central government as the background for embarking on the National Grand Journey.

He further emphasized the formation of a mature communication relationship between the central government and local governments, rather than one-sided directives and implementation.

Mayor Chae stated, "Through discussions with many local government heads during the National Grand Journey, while pending issues vary by local government, I sympathized with the limitations in municipal administration that local government heads feel. Since local government heads were elected to begin local autonomy 17 years ago, the one-sided policy decision-making and budget execution system has shown no improvement whatsoever. All local government heads unanimously hope for improvement in this regard."