Yeongju Mayor Hwang Byeong-jik delivers his inaugural address at the inauguration ceremony on Wednesday. [Yeongju City]
Yeongju Mayor Hwang Byeong-jik delivers his inaugural address at the inauguration ceremony on Wednesday. [Yeongju City]

Hwang Byeong-jik, the newly inaugurated mayor of Yeongju, signaled a new direction for city governance from his first day in office, breaking with established convention at every turn.

Hwang began by stripping back the formalities at his own inauguration ceremony on Wednesday. Front-row seats traditionally reserved for VIP guests were left empty and reassigned to elderly residents, people with disabilities and others requiring special consideration. Distinguished guests were seated in the middle of the venue — a deliberate move to recast the event as a citizen-centered occasion rather than a celebration of the mayor's victory.

Congratulatory speeches were kept to a minimum. In their place, representatives of youth groups and small-business owners took the stage to mark the new administration's launch and share their hopes and expectations, reflecting Hwang's stated intent to make citizens, not the mayor, the protagonists of the ceremony.

His first commute to work also looked different. Rather than walking through rows of applauding staff in the customary welcome, he arrived quietly with a small number of employees and presided over the unveiling of a large banner at city hall marking the launch of the ninth directly elected administration.

At lunch, he skipped a formal mayoral luncheon and instead shared dosirak with newly hired civil servants, taking time to talk with them.

For his first official visit outside city hall, Hwang went to Yeongju Red Cross Hospital to assess local medical services and encourage doctors and hospital staff. He listened to briefings on the hospital's operations and the broader healthcare situation in the region, and expressed gratitude for the work of medical workers.

"I will give Yeongju back to its citizens," Hwang said. "I will build a Yeongju where citizens are at the center of governance." He added that he would "prioritize action over formality and the field over protocol, so that citizens can feel the change."


kbj7653@heraldcorp.com