Gwanak District Chief Wins Top Manifesto Award Third Time Running

Park Jun-hee, chief of Seoul's Gwanak District, won the top award in the election pledge book category at the 2026 Manifesto Local Election Promise Awards, organized by the Korea Manifesto Center. As the only winner among Seoul's districts, Park earned the top honor for a third consecutive time, following the 7th local government term in 2018 and the 8th term in 2022.

According to the district on the 24th, the Manifesto Local Election Promise Awards is a recognition program that evaluates the specificity and feasibility of election pledges, aiming to spread a policy-focused election culture and strengthen the basis for keeping promises to voters.

This year's awards assessed the pledge materials of winning candidates for metropolitan and basic-level government heads and education superintendents nationwide, disclosed during the 9th nationwide local elections. Judges reviewed seven areas, including clarity of goals and priority-setting, implementation procedures and timelines, funding plans, philosophy and vision, and the democratic nature of the drafting process.

Drawing on eight years each as a Gwanak district councilor and a Seoul metropolitan councilor, along with experience running district affairs during the 7th and 8th local government terms, Park presented pledges closely tied to local issues and residents' daily lives. Major pledges include "Gwanak S-Valley 3.0," a happy city for single-person households, and the Gwanaksan Sky Forest Trail project.

Park drew high marks in particular for clarifying policy goals and priorities for each pledge and for presenting not only implementation procedures and timelines but also detailed funding plans drawing on district, city, national and private-sector investment.

For the 9th local government term, Park set "innovation, inclusion and collaborative governance" as the guiding principle of district administration, under the vision of "Gwanak, Best Together." To that end, the district plans to pursue its pledge projects around six administrative goals: an inclusive economy, a happiness-based society, a youth capital of Korea, top-tier education and culture, a healing garden city, and an AI innovation district office.

Gwanak District said Park's pledge fulfillment rate reached 99.8% during the 8th local government term, and that the district received an SA (top) grade for three consecutive years in the Korea Manifesto Center's nationwide evaluation of basic-level government heads on pledge fulfillment and information disclosure.

"This award is thanks to the efforts of Gwanak's 500,000 residents and staff who are building the district's future together," Park said. "I will continue to faithfully carry out my promises to residents one by one, with a low posture and a humble heart."