Gyeongssangbuk-do Gov. Lee Cheol-woo and provincial government officials climb up Mt. Geommu in the morning of Jan. 3 and make a fresh start at a ceremony to kick off the 2020 business year. (Photos: Gyeongssangbuk-do provincial govt.)

Gyeongsangbuk-do Gov. Lee Cheol-woo and 400 provincial government officials climbed up Mt. Geommu on the morning of Jan. 3 and declared a fresh start in a ceremony to kick off the 2020 business year.

As the new year’s Chinese buzzword “nokpungdagyeong” indicates, Gov. Lee and participants vowed to make things “worthy of making history” with a mindset of creating “green new winds of change.”

The following are experts of a message Gyeongsangbuk-do Gov. Lee delivered in celebration of the New Year.

The New Year 2020 has dawned. The Year of Rat, the first of the 12 animals on the Chinese zodiac, is said to symbolize fecundity and prosperity.

As the New Year implies, I wish for our Gyeongsangbuk-do to have more jobs and children, bringing happiness and smiles to all provincial families.

For one and half years since taking office, I moved forward without hesitation to take new challenges to raise the standing of Gyeongsangbuk-do to new heights.

Once in a dramatic or aggressive fashion, I spearheaded inward changes and innovation and busily made the rounds, equivalent to a monthly average of 10,000 km, to recover the past prestige of the province.

Some acquaintances worried about me, working from 5 a.m. until midnight, but I wasn’t exhausted thanks to your provincial residents’ efforts.

Gyeongbuk’s mainstay industries, which were once stuck in a crisis of stagnation, are new future industries to make another leap forward, and stable jobs are created one by one by attracting companies through Gyeongbuk-style job creation model.

The plan to construct a new airport in the Daegu/Gyeongbuk area, a watershed moment for Gyeongbuk’s development, was finalized, and the enactment of special laws on earthquakes in Pohang and the restoration of royal relics in Gyeongju, the ancient capital of Shilla Kingdom, is expected to speed up.

These achievements were owed to joint efforts by public officials, political circles and all provincial residents who demonstrated their preserved capabilities.

Despite the region’s achievements, the reality of the situation we are now facing is stark. Korea, grappling with bipolarization in areas such as population, economic, cultural and transportation sectors, and concentration into the Seoul metropolitan area, has been warned against “possible provincial extinction.”

Gyeongsangbuk-do now has to play a pivotal part of making sustainable provinces and a better Korea, by presenting solutions and putting them into action. To this end, our Gyeongbuk should never stop changing: restoring the past’s pride, putting away outdated attitudes and being passionate.

As the new year’s Chinese buzzword “nokpungdagyeong” indicated, I will make things good for the province by creating “green new winds” along with provincial residents.

Gyeongsangbuk-do will continue to ramp up changes and innovation that the province has so far implemented.
True to the provincial government’s administration tenets: growth, public livelihood, and accompanying, we’ll make Geyongbuk a “good and happy place to live.”

Gyeongsangbuk-do Gov. Lee Cheol-woo and Daegu Mayor Kwon Young-jin attend a ceremony to declare their pray for the successful hosting of the '2020 Visit Daegu-Gyeongbuk Year’ in the Seoul The Plaza Hotel last Nov. 5.

Among the representative core policies the provincial government will implement this year are the construction of a new airport in the Daegu-Gyeongbuk area, an innovative project on raw materials and parts designed to promote the competitiveness and self-sufficiency of the region’s industries, a project related to marginalized merchants and self-employed businesses, a top 10 science industry feasibility study project designed to lay a foothold for future new industries, a Gyeongbuk-style project for childcare and birth, the 2020 Daegu-Gyeongbuk Tourism Year, an agro-food seed money fund project, and “innovative nuclear research institute” project designed to emerge as a center of nuclear power research.

Gyeongssangbuk-do Gov. Lee Cheol-woo and ohter officials taste apple at Cheongsong Apple Booth during the Gyeongbuk Apple Festival last Nov. 5.

As new year’s Chinese buzzword “nokpungdagyeong” indicates, Gov. Lee and participants vowed to make things “worthy of making history” with a mindset of creating ‘green new winds of change.’

Gyeongsangbuk-do is stepping up ways of reinvigorating the tourism industry of the province on the occasion of the “2020 Visit Daegu-Gyeongbuk Year.”

Gyeongsangbuk-do ranks fifth among provinces with a 9.8 percent share in domestic tourism sector and eighth in the inbound tourism segment. Gyeongsangbuk-do’s report card is poor compared to the fact that the province, which tops in Korea in terms of designated cultural properties, boasts of five world cultural heritage sites and a center of three cultures – Shilla Kingdom, Gaya and Confucianism.

The province is trying to restore self-respect in the tourism industry to make the most of the “2020 Visit Daegu-Gyeongbuk Year.”

Gyeongssangbuk-do Gov. Lee greets tourists aboard a first bus bound for Andong at Gangnam Station in Seoul on Jan. 18 prior to their departure under bus tour program to Daegu and Gyeongssangbuk-do.

In order to build culture and tourism infrastructure, the provincial government will install 13 tourist centers in 10 cities and counties and build tourism information services in 20 cities and counties.

Gyeongsangbuk-do is pushing ahead with projects to build tourism infrastructure in three cultural heritage spheres, which are to be dedicated next year, while launching new projects, including one designed to review the culture related to Nakdong River.

The provincial government plans to attract Korean and foreign tourists by promoting and spurring regional festivals.

The provincial government aims to attract more than 30 million Korean tourists and more than 1 million foreign tourists on the occasion of the 2020 Visit Daegu-Gyeongbuk Year.