Daegu Mayor Choo Kyung-ho presides over a senior staff meeting at the Sangyeok office of Daegu City Hall on Tuesday. [Daegu City]
Daegu Mayor Choo Kyung-ho presides over a senior staff meeting at the Sangyeok office of Daegu City Hall on Tuesday. [Daegu City]

Daegu Mayor Choo Kyung-ho chaired a senior staff meeting at the city's Sangyeok office on Tuesday, urging officials to produce changes that young residents can actually feel.

The city appointed Park Seong-min, 33, a former student body president at Yeungnam University, as its first mayoral youth adviser on Aug. 10. The newly created post reports directly to the mayor and is designed to give young people a leading role in shaping Daegu's youth policy governance.

Choo said the appointment was intended "to organically connect youth-related work that has been scattered across multiple departments and inject fresh energy into youth policy."

He called on the new adviser to go out into the field and ensure that the voices of young people feed directly into policy. "We need to carefully examine the real difficulties young people face — jobs, housing, lifestyle — and think hard about what kind of support actually makes a practical difference on the ground," he said.

Choo also called for close coordination among relevant departments to develop policies and programs with a tangible impact, "so that young people feel Daegu is truly with them."

Turning to corporate investment attraction, Choo said the city must go beyond simply asking companies to come to Daegu. "We need to be ready to immediately present concrete options — where a company can actually set up, what sites are available, whether water and power supply is feasible," he said.

He directed officials to proactively identify corporate investment needs and spell out the investment environment and support measures Daegu can realistically offer. "When a good company comes knocking, we should be able to lay out Daegu's competitive sites and support packages like a menu and let them choose," he said.

Choo closed by reminding staff that their own views are not always right, and instructed them to take heed of opinions from National Assembly members, city council members, journalists and experts when refining policy and setting the direction of city administration.


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