The major policy pledges of Haenam County in South Jeolla Province under the 7th and 8th popularly elected administrations are gaining recognition both domestically and externally.
Haenam County announced Wednesday that it received the highest SA (Excellent) rating in the "2026 National Basic Local Government Head Pledge Implementation and Information Disclosure Evaluation" conducted by the Korea Manifesto Headquarters.
With this selection, Haenam County has become the only municipality among the 22 cities and counties in South Jeolla Province to achieve the SA rating for eight consecutive years, firmly establishing its reputation as a "well-performing local government."
The Korea Manifesto Headquarters annually evaluates basic local governments nationwide across five categories—pledge completion, goal achievement, resident communication, web communication, and pledge consistency—assigning ratings from SA to D.
Haenam County consistently exceeded the 90-point threshold required for SA rating. Officials attribute this to the systematic establishment of pledge implementation foundations based on "fairness, equity, and transparency" in administration since the launch of the 7th elected term, even as the total score requirements for SA rating have increased each year.
The major pledges of Haenam County's 8th elected administration are producing visible results.
The county also achieved a comprehensive Grade 1 rating in the Public Institution Integrity Assessment conducted by the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission in 2025. Through the operation of a citizen evaluation panel, the county periodically reviews pledge implementation status and publishes results on the county website, successfully establishing a citizen-participatory pledge management system.
Going forward, Haenam County plans to proactively respond to future changes including climate change and population decline, while pursuing high value-added agriculture and fisheries, improving residential conditions, and expanding future industry infrastructure to build "Haenam, the Sustainable Rural Capital."
Most notably, three of Haenam County's projects were included among the top 300 pledges by total planned budget scale among 8th-term city, county, and district head pledge projects: the establishment of a renewable energy industrial complex and power generation complex, the creation of a support complex for the Hwawon Shipbuilding Industrial Complex offshore wind project, and the development of a climate change response agricultural cluster.
This reflects the high priority given to Haenam County's core strategic projects and is expected to accelerate efforts to secure future growth engines.
"The eight consecutive years of excellent ratings are the result of placing our promises to residents as the top priority in county administration," a Haenam County official said. "We will push forward with major pledge projects without delay to deliver results that residents can feel."
