North Gyeongsang Province, People Power Party hold first budget policy meeting of 9th elected term

North Gyeongsang Province held the first "People Power Party–North Gyeongsang Province Budget Policy Conference" of the ninth elected term at the National Assembly members' office building Tuesday, ahead of the Assembly's review of next year's government budget bill, the province announced.

About 50 people attended the meeting, including Kim Hyeong-dong, chairman of the People Power Party's North Gyeongsang Province chapter, all constituency lawmakers from the region, North Gyeongsang Province Governor Lee Cheol-woo, and senior civil servants.

At the meeting, the province urged lawmakers to actively support a range of priorities: completing a super-regional transportation network including the Yeongil Bay cross-expressway and the southern inland railway; establishing a medical school at Gyeongguk National University; expanding regionally differentiated industrial electricity rates; providing substantive support and reconstruction for wildfire-hit areas; relocating public institutions to the regions in a second round of transfers; and responding to the creation of a future response fund.

Participants also agreed to step up efforts to attract public institutions linked to the region's specialized industries, including the Korea Racing Authority, the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation, the Korea Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning Institute, the Korea Nuclear Safety Foundation, and the Korea Agency for Infrastructure Technology Advancement.

Kim Hyeong-dong, chairman of the People Power Party's North Gyeongsang Province chapter, said the party would do its utmost to secure the necessary budget "so that North Gyeongsang Province can lead balanced national development as a new growth hub for South Korea."

Governor Lee said the province had been able to secure record levels of national funding every year even under difficult conditions "because the regional political community and North Gyeongsang Province have run together with one heart," adding that the province would again join forces this year to do its best in securing national funding.