Uijeongbu City (Mayor Kim Dong-geun) announced on the 24th that it has started a preparatory meeting ahead of the promotion of a ‘citizen public opinion forum’ to select a site for the relocation of the Hoewon-dong reserve forces training center.
The city previously announced in August that it would decide on the relocation site for the reserve forces training center through a public forum that would allow for the democratic participation and sufficient deliberation of citizens.
To this end, a preparatory meeting for the Citizens’ Public Opinion Forum was recently established and local residents’ representatives, civil society, experts, and observers were appointed as members of the preparatory meeting. The plan is to promote the Citizens’ Public Opinion Forum through a total of four preparatory meetings over the next month.
At the first meeting on the 20th, the appointed members were given an opportunity to explain the procedures for promoting the Citizens’ Public Opinion Forum and the role of the preparatory meeting. Starting from the second meeting, the working group research results, regional status assessment, and support measures for selected regions will be discussed in earnest to review the promotion of the Citizens’ Public Opinion Forum.
At this location, Mayor Kim Dong-geun said, “I would like to express my sincere gratitude to everyone who participated in the preparatory meeting to select the site for the relocation of the reserve force training center, which is a really important decision that must be made in Uijeongbu City,” and emphasized, “In order to gain the possibility of acceptance of the administrative decision, it is an important task to understand and respect the complex and diverse interests and to figure out how to manage and resolve conflicts well.”
While doing so, he explained the background of the push, saying, “Over the past two years, we have had continuous negotiations based on the principle of relocating outside the jurisdiction, and have obtained significant concessions from the Ministry of National Defense, such as reducing the size of the reserve force training center,” and “It may be difficult to satisfy all citizens, but we decided to decide on the relocation site, believing that we can find common ground through a public forum.”
Lastly, he asked, “Please prepare so that through deep consideration, a rational decision can be made that many citizens can sympathize with.”
Park Tae-sun, the representative of the Public Opinion Forum (standing representative of the Korea Public Opinion Forum), promised to promote a transparent and fair public opinion forum for citizens, saying, “We will thoroughly adhere to the basic principles of ‘support but do not intervene’ and ‘guarantee the autonomy of the composition and operation of the public opinion forum.’”
In addition, city officials said about the various controversies that have recently been raised in some areas, “We plan to transparently disclose all materials to the preparatory meeting for the public hearing and have them verified.”
In particular, regarding the controversy that the public forum for citizens would encourage civil conflict and shift responsibility to the citizens, he explained, “Since the previous reserve force training center relocation site was decided without communication and was scrapped due to public opposition, the selection of the relocation site this time will be decided through public consensus,” and “The public forum for citizens will synthesize citizens’ opinions and submit a recommendation to the mayor, and the final decision-maker will ultimately be the mayor.”
The city will prepare for the public forum through a preparatory meeting until October. In addition, the city will form a public forum management committee in mid-October to decide on the operating policy for the public forum and encourage voluntary participation from citizens, and plans to operate the public forum from November to December.
Economy Queen Reporter Hongmi Kim / Photo Uijeongbu City
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2024-09-24 18:31:46