Gyeongju mayor unveils 4-year blueprint for post-APEC era

Gyeongju Mayor Ju Nak-young unveiled his municipal blueprint for the ninth directly elected term Wednesday, laying out a future growth strategy and four-year vision centered on the post-APEC era.

The city held a press briefing at Alcheon Hall in Gyeongju City Hall on Wednesday, presenting the ninth term's vision, key campaign pledges and major policy priorities.

Mayor Ju delivered a presentation in person, putting forward "Beyond Change, Into the Future — Uninterrupted Progress for Gyeongju" as his governing vision. He identified the city's core tasks as breaking into the world's top 10 tourism cities, driving a post-APEC agenda, building a K-nuclear energy innovation cluster, fostering a future-mobility innovation ecosystem, supporting youth settlement and improving the urban environment.

On tourism, the city plans to leverage the outcomes of the 2025 APEC Summit as a sustainable growth engine by establishing an APEC memorial hall and a national symbolic forest, launching a World Gyeongju Forum, renovating the Bomun Tourism Complex and setting up an APEC Diplomacy and Culture Center — all aimed at creating a global tourism city where international conferences and cultural tourism converge.

On industry, the city will build a K-nuclear innovation cluster by developing the second phase of the Munmu the Great Science Research Institute, a small modular reactor national industrial complex and a global nuclear joint campus. It will also strengthen competitiveness in the future automotive sector through the Angang RE100 e-mobility industrial complex, the Geoncheon free economic zone and the Oidong future-vehicle parts, materials and equipment specialized complex.

The city also plans to improve living conditions through expanded rural cooperation agreements, activation of a new agricultural innovation town, construction of a multipurpose cultural library and a municipal art museum, development of regional sports centers and youth residential and employment support — while pursuing balanced regional development through tailored campaign pledges for each district.

"The ninth term is a time to open a new future for Gyeongju, built on the growth foundation laid over the past eight years," Mayor Ju said. "We will use the post-APEC momentum as a new engine of growth, advancing tourism, industry, the urban environment and citizen well-being together, and leap forward as a globally competitive city."