Gyeongsangbuk-do Gov. Lee Cheol-woo participates in a ceremony to launch the 2021 business year, which was broadcast via an in-house broadcasting system of the provincial government on Jan. 4. (Photo: Province of Gyeongsangbuk-do)

The Gyeongsang provincial government held an online ceremony to launch the 2021 business year by paying homage at Chunghon Tower, a memorial tower for fallen national heroes in Andong, on Jan. 4.

Only 20 provincial government officials, including Gyeongsangbuk-do Gov. Lee Cheol-woo and director generals, participated in the ceremony in compliance with social distancing guidelines to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

The participants pledged to pay their respects to the souls of fallen heroes and carry out administration to offer hope to provincial residents.

Gov. Lee expressed his termination to push ahead with a scheme to integrate the administration of Daegu and Gyeongsangbuk-do in earnest by writing on a visitors’ registry: “I’ll make preparations for a Daegu-Gyeongbuk era with all my soul and heart,” he said.

In his New Year’s message, Gov. Lee said, “Gyeongsangbuk-do’s new year buzzword has been set at ‘sajunggusaeng,’ a Chinese saying that means ‘call for the rearming of Gyeongbuk’s spirit of making thorough preparations with a mindset of overcoming hardships that are never seen before with all its soul and heart to turn a crisis into an opportunity’.”

“As for the direction of the operation of the provincial government, the conventional administration paradigm will be revamped into a research-oriented one connected with universities, and an administration team will be formed among university, company, provincial government, city and county circles to brace for the 4th Industrial Revolution in advance,” he said.

To this end, the provincial government will be reorganized to comply with the 4th Industrial Revolution in a long-term perspective, Gov. Lee said. “Restoring the public livelihood will be a core task of the provincial administration,” he said.

“And with a special countermeasure headquarters designed to restore the public livelihood under the direct control of the governor, and participation by the public and private sectors such as the provincial government, city, country, universities and companies, on-site policies will be explored to offer benefits to provincial residents by focusing on taking preemptive steps to overcome a crisis, caused by COVID-19 pandemic regardless of business areas.”

“In particular, as for the construction of an integrated new airport in the Daegu-Gyeongbuk area, efforts to flesh out on a detailed blue print such as the reflecting of middle- and long-haul flight routes will be accelerated, and they will be pushed based on consensus among provincial and city residents through integrated Daegu-Gyeongbuk administrative process,” Gov. Lee said.

Lee said his provincial government will implement projects to restore the public livelihood, expand support to small business owners and traditional markets by extending an ear to voices of sites and reflect them into policies, stabilize the operation of SMEs, and push ahead with projects to promote innovative growth of future cars through the upgrade of regional industries such as next-generation secondary battery cluster as well as Geyongbuk-style New Deal projects in earnest.

Gyeongbuk will implement strategies to ensure a sustainable development of the pan-East Sea in a new marine era through the development of Ulleung Port and Yeongil Bay Port while pushing ahead with Gyeongbuk-style child happiness projects such as village care centers and free meals for all grades so as to make Gyeongbuk free from child care and birth burden.

The provincial government is also planning to build a platform to reform the culture and tourism industry so that Gyeongbuk-stylle one-line and off-line tours can be made available.

Gyeongbuk will implement the “New Hope and Happiness Project” that will involve the Gyeongbuk-style smart farming industry embracing ICT and big data to prevent a food security crisis while making seamless preparations for hosting the 2021 National Sports Festival.

Gov. Lee told provincial government officials to make sure the thorough implementation of its priority tasks such as tasking steps to follow up the revision of the Act on Local Autonomy and fully enforcing a local police autonomy system.

Gov. Lee said, as the year 2021 is the Year of White Ox, “Let’s devote ourselves to making Gyeongbuk residents happy by renewing ourselves with tenacity, sincerity and endurance.”