Kim Hyun-gi, the newly inaugurated Gangnam-gu district mayor, is earning strong reviews in the early days of his ninth-term administration, with "communication" emerging as the defining theme of his tenure so far.
After first working to close the distance between himself and district office staff, Kim has begun meeting with community representatives in quick succession, listening directly to residents' concerns and picking up the pace of what he calls field-centered governance.
On his first day at work on July 1, Kim shook hands and exchanged greetings with employees one by one, then distributed more than 70 orchids he had received as inauguration gifts to new civil servants — his first act of outreach to the organization.
On Friday, he personally visited all 48 departments in the main district office building, speaking with staff and checking on their working conditions and concerns.
"After taking office, I toured all 48 departments in the main building. I had two goals. The first was communication — I handed out business cards with my phone number and email and asked everyone to share suggestions or grievances with me anytime," Kim said. He added: "At the same time, I looked at the working environment, and it was far too poor. Some departments had no windows at all. It weighed on me. Rebuilding the office building is an urgent task."
His gesture of personally handing out business cards and urging staff to contact him whenever they had concerns or suggestions left a strong impression on employees, according to those familiar with the matter.
Having established a line of communication with staff, Kim has now turned his attention to engaging with residents.
Kim launched his first resident outreach effort of the ninth term on Monday, kicking off a series of meetings with community representative organizations.
Held in the district office's main conference room under the theme "Listen in the field, answer with policy," the meetings were structured to let Kim explain his administration's direction while hearing directly from community leaders about local issues and requests.
The series spans 17 community representative groups — covering resident autonomy, safety, the environment, children and youth, women, and neighborhood association heads — with about 200 participants in total. It runs through Thursday in five sessions, each kept small to encourage open exchanges rather than formal presentations.
The first session on Monday brought together representatives from the Gangnam-gu Saemaul Association, the Saemaul Women's Association, the Bareu-ge Salgi (Better Living) Movement Gangnam-gu Council, the Korea Freedom Federation Gangnam-gu chapter, and the volunteer crime-prevention patrol. The second session that day focused on sharing neighborhood-level issues and the administration's direction with the heads of resident autonomy committees.
Wednesday's sessions will include meetings with the Green Mothers' Federation, the kindergarten association, the child welfare committee, the women's organizations council, and the youth guidance council. The series concludes Thursday with meetings with the volunteer disaster-prevention corps, the nature conservation council, environmental groups, and the federation of neighborhood association heads.
"The ninth-term Gangnam-gu administration starts with communication with residents," Kim said. "When I say I will answer the voices heard in the field with policy, I mean I will put residents' opinions at the center of how this district is run." He added: "I will work side by side with residents and keep my commitment — 'Gangnam with energy! Residents with joy! The great transformation of Gangnam!' — to build a Gangnam that is an even better place to live."
Kim spent more than two decades as a National Assembly aide before serving four terms as a Seoul Metropolitan Council lawmaker and later as council speaker. He is widely regarded as someone who understands the importance of communication in running an organization better than most.
His move to first bridge the gap with staff immediately after taking office, and then to quickly open dialogue with community representatives, signals his determination to practice governance that finds its answers in the field.
As Kim broadens his points of contact with both employees and residents at the start of the ninth term, attention is turning to what changes his communication-driven approach will bring to Gangnam-gu's administration going forward.
seouldream01@heraldcorp.com
