Gyeongsangbuk-do Gov. Lee Cheol-woo, seeking reelection for his 3rd term on the ticket of the People Power Party (PPP), revealed campaign policy pledges on education, manpower, youth and family under the catchphrase “Humanity-Oriented Gyeongbuk” to court voters.
PPP candidate Lee exchanged greetings at the 2026 Gyeongsangbuk-do Children’s Festival, at the Gyeongbuk Millennium Forest Garden, and released 10 public pledges that encompass education, care, youth, woman and family on May 5.
The keyword of his public pledges is making Gyeongbuk good for giving birth and raising children.
Lee pledged to create an environment in which parents can raise children without misgivings by building a tightly knitted care system catering middle school students and improving payments of childcare staff and the quality of services.
As for the safety of children, Lee said he would ramp up safety infrastructure for the whole of life spheres, such as commuting routes, neighborhood areas of schools, playgrounds and care facilities and reduce growth opportunity gap by expanding support for culture, arts, athletic and experience activities.
As for youth policies, Lee said he will create Gyeongsangbuk-do Youth Day and expand youth-oriented programs.
He also said the policies would include a plan to raise education and cultural access by alleviating youth’s transportation fees.
Lee said he would implement family policies prioritizing a balance between work and family.
He said his provincial government would create an environment in which parents can raise children while working by supporting flexible work shift and spreading family-friendly companies.
Lee said his government would adopt integrated strategies, not simple policies, to cope with low-birth.
Lee said his provincial government would pursue “settlement innovation” in which youth, family, care and settlement policies can be connected with housing, jobs, education, transportation and culture.
Lee also pledged to strengthen policies for youth and women. He said his provincial government would build growth foundation by offering support tailored to meet youth and female startups and expand investment connectivity.
The candidate said, “If and when children are happy, their parents feel at ease, and children and youth should be able to nurture their dreams in the region, and I will devote myself to making Gyeongbuk a family-friendly, regionally representative model.”
Gyeongsangbuk-do Attracts 46 Trillion Won in Investment for Past Four Years
Gyeongsangbuk-do attracted 46 trillion won in investment during the publicly-elected eighth term.
The figure was 32 percent more than the provincial government’s goal of attracting 35 trillion won during the term.
Gyeongsangbuk-do said on April 9 that cumulative investments it attracted since the inauguration of the eighth term provincial government until the end of March 2026 stood at 46,352.9 billion won.
The feat was owed to the outcomes of the provincial government’s investment attraction strategies tailored for the semiconductor, defense industry and secondary battery sectors.
Gyeongsangbuk-do attracted 5,316.1 billion won in investments in the first three months of this year, surpassing 2026 1st half goal of attracting 5 trillion won.
The provincial government struck 19 investment contracts so far this year, indicating a shift of its industry landscape into a structure based on advanced industry sectors, such as AI datacenters.
Gyeongsangbuk-do ranked 1st among local governments by attracting four companies returning home from abroad.
The achievement comes as a result of the provincial government’s differentiated investment attraction strategies, which also includes subsidy support, site offers tailored for corporate needs and aggressive administrative support.
Gyeongsangbuk-do Vice Gov. Yang Geum-hee said, “Exceeding investment attraction goal for the publicly-elected eighth term is an outcome of our efforts to build a business-friendly environment and conduct strategic investment attraction activities, and we will lead sustainable regional economic growth by attracting advanced industries and promising companies.”
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