Daegu Mayor Choo urges city officials to pick up the pace on citizen-focused work

Daegu Mayor Choo Kyung-ho presided over a senior staff meeting at the Sanggyeok office conference hall on Monday, calling on city officials to accelerate visible change for residents while pushing for balanced urban improvements and an all-out effort to secure national and supplementary budget funding.

Choo opened the meeting by saying that a recent organizational restructuring and personnel reshuffle had wrapped up, and that the new lineup now needed to start delivering real results at a faster pace.

"If we stand still, we fall behind those who are walking; if we only walk, we cannot keep up with those who are running," he said. "As the world changes rapidly, we must constantly check how quickly our administration is responding to that change."

He urged officials to make active use of AI across all areas of city administration — boldly cutting unnecessary work while moving swiftly on matters that matter to residents.

"The purpose of AI-driven administration is not simply to adopt new technology," Choo said. "It is to raise the productivity and efficiency of government and, ultimately, to improve the quality of the services we provide to citizens."

He also called on officials to devote maximum effort to securing both national government funding and the city's own supplementary budget allocations.

"Once the government's budget proposal moves to the National Assembly, we must work even more closely with local lawmakers," Choo said. "Explain the need for key projects at every opportunity and seek their cooperation so those projects are reflected as fully as possible during the Assembly's review."

On the final stages of supplementary budget planning, he directed officials to keep identifying projects with real benefits for residents and the local economy — covering youth support, economic revitalization, neighborhood commercial districts, small business owners, traditional markets and low birth rate responses — right up to the last moment.

"There is much to be done for Daegu's development and for a better life for its citizens," Choo said. "Take ownership of city administration and devote yourselves wholeheartedly to serving the public."