BUSAN — A citizen jury that will examine and refine the policy blueprint of Busan's new city government from residents' perspective is formally launching. The aim is to expand direct citizen participation in carrying out the mayor's campaign pledges, improving their feasibility and maximizing transparency in public communication.
Busan said it will hold an appointment ceremony for the citizen jury at the city hall conference room on the afternoon of Oct. 1 to begin drawing up implementation plans for the pledges, formally starting the panel's work.
The jury was created to ensure that the mayor's pledges do not remain administratively convenient plans, but instead gain practical effect through direct evaluation and recommendations from residents. To secure representativeness and fairness, the city randomly selected 50 jurors from Busan residents aged 18 and older, using an automated response system and telephone interviews to match the city's population ratios by gender, age and district.
The jury will select 20 flagship pledges from among 30 major pledges that residents feel most directly, then review them in depth over three sessions in one month. The first session covered capacity-building training and the formation of subgroups. The second will feature direct briefings and question-and-answer sessions with the departments in charge, and the third will produce final recommendations through subgroup discussions.
The city will publish the pledge implementation plans on its website on the 8th of this month. It then plans to finalize the plans after fully reflecting the jury's review findings and recommendations.
"The pledges of this city government take on real meaning only when they are made concrete and completed together with residents," Mayor Jeon Jae-soo said. "We will review and incorporate the citizen jury's various proposals with an open mind to deliver results that residents can feel directly in their daily lives."
