Pocheon, a city in Gyeonggi Province, is accelerating the implementation of campaign pledges for the ninth popularly elected local government term. Notably, the city has placed weight on verifying feasibility rather than listing populist promises.
According to Pocheon on Wednesday, the city held an "Advisory Panel Appointment Ceremony for the Ninth-Term Campaign Pledge Implementation Plan" on Saturday. Mayor Baek Young-hyun made a total of 149 pledges to citizens, and the effort represents preparatory work to translate these into actual results during his term.
The core is an external verification mechanism. The advisory panel is composed of 11 experts across fields including urban development, education, welfare, jobs, and agriculture and livestock. Current university professors and retired public officials participate together, spanning both theory and administrative practice.
Over two months, they will intensively review the feasibility and specificity of the pledge projects. The intent is understood to be filtering out pledges at the implementation stage so they do not remain mere slogans.
The direction for city administration has been set as "A Humanities City Where My Life Is Happy, PRIDE POCHEON." The implementation strategy is condensed into five pillars.
In detail, these are: creating a life-oriented garden city; building a K-AI advanced defense industry innovation cluster; strengthening future competitiveness centered on an education development zone and a peace economy special zone; fostering sustainable smart agriculture and livestock; and expanding the metropolitan transportation network. The plan is analyzed as placing emphasis on securing future economic drivers for the region by prioritizing the defense industry and special zones.
Another feature is that the city drew in citizen participation from the policy design stage. Pocheon plans to reflect in its policies the roughly 280 opinions received through its "citizen proposal platform."
Administrative efficiency was also considered. Upon taking office, Pocheon did not establish a separate mayoral transition committee and instead built its pledge implementation system using the existing administrative organization. The decision was aimed at reducing the personnel and budget burden that comes with operating a transition committee.
"Campaign pledges are promises to citizens," Mayor Baek said. "For the promises to be properly carried out, the role of the advisory panel is important."
