S. Gyeongsang Gov. Park calls for three-pronged reform as 9th elected term begins

South Gyeongsang Province Gov. Park Wan-su has called for sweeping reforms across three areas — internal organization, public communication and affiliated agencies — ahead of the launch of the ninth elected provincial administration. Park said he intends to strengthen accountability by giving division and section chiefs greater authority and responsibility, and to replace passive work habits with a field-oriented approach to governance.

The province held a division and bureau chiefs meeting Monday at the provincial government conference room in Changwon, chaired by Park, to review the key achievements of the eighth elected term and set the direction for the ninth. "The ninth elected term must be a process of concretely designing the future of South Gyeongsang Province that residents want," Park said. "We must think about the province's future from the perspective of residents and build a governing direction that matches it."

Park then laid out three reform priorities for the new term: overhauling the internal organization, strengthening communication with residents, and reforming affiliated agencies. The push builds on the province's achievement of ranking first nationwide in a joint government evaluation for the first time in its history, with the aim of raising administrative efficiency and accountability to the next level.

At the heart of the internal overhaul is strengthening accountability centered on division and section chiefs. "We must boldly break the passive habit of only doing what we are told from above," Park said. "We need to correct cases where some employees take a passive attitude or shift their workload onto colleagues, and establish an organizational culture where hardworking employees are recognized."

To that end, the province plans to institutionalize regular discussion sessions led by section chiefs, build a work handover manual, improve the autonomous assignment system and ease the burden of preparing meeting materials. Personnel decisions will center on objective evaluations and work performance to improve fairness and predictability.

"A provincial administration that does not listen to residents is nothing but an empty shell," Park said, directing senior civil servants to visit communities in person and establish a system for incorporating residents' opinions into policy. The province also plans to expand regular forums involving major civic groups and residents at each division and bureau level, to ensure that reasonable complaints are not neglected due to bureaucratic convenience.

Park called for proactive responses to major second-half policy issues. The province will mount an all-out lobbying effort with the National Assembly and central government ministries to ensure that key projects it has proposed are included in the national railway, road and airport plans the central government is currently drawing up.

"If necessary, put the governor at the forefront and actively create strategic opportunities such as meetings with ministers," Park said. "We must concentrate all our capabilities on securing national funding and advancing key legislation for the region."