Min Hyung-bae wins inaugural South Jeolla-Gwangju special city mayor race with 79% of vote

Min Hyung-bae of the Democratic Party of Korea has been elected the inaugural mayor of the integrated South Jeolla-Gwangju Special City. The win caps a career spanning journalism, civic activism, district office leadership, presidential aide work and National Assembly service in the Gwangju and South Jeolla Province region.

According to final results from the National Election Commission's election statistics system, Min received 1,283,402 votes for a commanding 79.01 percent share. People Power Party candidate Lee Jeong-hyeon was limited to 189,718 votes, or 11.68 percent.

"We stand at the door of the nation's first and only integrated special city," Min said in his victory remarks. "I will lead this integration to success through a citizen-sovereignty government and overwhelming growth." He added that South Jeolla-Gwangju would be the first to prove that a region-led path to growth was possible, calling the moment "a turning point that will not only bring remarkable change to South Jeolla-Gwangju but reshape the map of South Korea's growth."

A native of Haenam in South Jeolla Province, Min graduated with a degree in sociology from Chonnam National University after attending Masan Elementary School, Haenam Middle School and Mokpo High School. He worked as a reporter for the Jeonnam Ilbo and co-led the local civic group Participatory Autonomy 21 before serving as an administrative official and secretary at Cheong Wa Dae during the Roh Moo-hyun administration. He later served two terms — the fifth and sixth rounds of popular elections — as Gwangsan-gu district chief in Gwangju. There he made a name for himself as the first district office chief in the country to convert non-regular workers to permanent positions, drawing attention from labor groups and the central government.

Min returned to Cheong Wa Dae under the Moon Jae-in administration, serving as secretary for autonomous development and secretary for social policy. During that period he worked to advance major projects for Gwangju and South Jeolla Province, including the Gwangju-style jobs model, the establishment of the Korea Institute of Energy Technology and the creation of an AI cluster complex.

Min entered the National Assembly in the 2020 general election for the 21st Assembly with 84.05 percent of the vote — the highest rate in the country that cycle. Ahead of the 2022 presidential election, he was the first lawmaker from the Honam region to publicly back Lee Jae Myung in the Democratic Party primary. He temporarily left the party in 2022 to help push through legislation separating prosecutorial investigation and indictment powers, widely known as the "prosecution reform bill." In the 22nd general election he won reelection with 76.09 percent of the vote, becoming Gwangju's only two-term incumbent lawmaker.