Yang Hyang-ja, a supreme council member of the People Power Party, threw her hat in the ring for Gyeonggi governor in this local election. Starting as a high school graduate female employee, she joined Samsung Electronics and rose to executive director, coming from a corporations background. In Nov. last year, she also published a paper in Applied Sciences, an SCI-level international journal, analyzing why Samsung Electronics fell behind SK hynix in the High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) market. It is rare for a politician to publish a paper in a prominent international journal analyzing cutting-edge technology trends.
◇"Will change how civil servants work and the culture so there is no administrative inefficiency"
In an interview on the 10th, Yang Hyang-ja said, "Our semiconductor technology is leading the world, and Gyeonggi Province is its base, but the Democratic Party does not understand that importance, and it has nominated only people who know nothing about semiconductors." She added, "The Gyeonggi governor will have to stand opposite the government on energy issues to foster the semiconductor industry, but the current Democratic Party candidates will find that difficult." She went on, "Someone who has experienced managing global corporations should become Gyeonggi governor to plan for the next 10 years and craft a roadmap."
Regarding the discussion of transferring the Yongin semiconductor cluster to Saemangeum, Yang said, "A semiconductor cluster is a matter of national survival, and it should not be approached from the perspective of balanced regional development." Not only Democratic Party lawmakers from North Jeolla Province but also President Lee Jae-myung have weighed in on the Saemangeum transfer discussion. Yang said, "In the AI era, peak power is crucial for the semiconductor industry, and it makes no sense to handle that with renewable energy in Saemangeum," adding, "The president should exercise leadership and coordinate, but is only fueling confusion."
Yang also served as head of the National Human Resources Development Institute. She said, "I will change how civil servants work and the organizational culture so Gyeonggi's administration has no inefficiency."
◇"If the People Power Party shows hope, the public will cheer it on"
On the recent decline in support for the People Power Party, Yang Hyang-ja said, "If the People Power Party shows even a little hope, the public will cheer and tell it to do well," adding, "We are preparing for the election with the mindset that we must win."
Yang said she plans to use a "data mining" method in the campaign. The paper published in an international journal also analyzed 110,000 news articles using data mining. She said, "With a head-to-head matchup with Democratic Party lawmaker Choo Mi-ae in mind, we recently conducted a full analysis of media reports to identify strengths and weaknesses," adding, "Gyeonggi residents will choose someone more competent who will run Gyeonggi well, rather than someone who only fights well."