District Mayor Oh Seung-rok Travels 55,700 km Domestically Since Inauguration, Equivalent to 69 Round Trips Between Seoul and Busan... In a Survey of 700 Nowon Residents Marking Two Years of the 7th Elected Term, 9 out of 10 Positively Evaluate District Administration, and 8 out of 10 Are Satisfied Living in Nowon... Reveals Achievements and Future Tasks for Six Major Administrative Goals Over the Past Two Years
[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] It has been two years since the inauguration of the 7th term Mayor Oh Seung-rok administration in Nowon-gu. The past two years of Nowon-gu, launched under the slogan ‘Healing City Nowon in Nature and Culture,’ can be summarized as a time to leverage Nowon’s strengths and fill in its shortcomings.
55,700 km. This is the domestic vehicle travel distance that Mayor Oh Seung-rok has covered since taking office. It is a distance that could make 69 round trips from Seoul to Busan. This clearly reflects his usual belief that to get ideas, one must see and hear things firsthand.
The staff are the same. There is an anecdote from when the mayor took office. At the first meeting with the mayor held in the main auditorium, the staff, captivated by the mayor’s candid talk, responded loudly with “Yes” to his unexpected request, “How can the mayor handle such a vast amount of district work alone? Will you help me?” without hesitation.
The mayor’s understanding extends to work performance as well. Mayor Oh highly appreciated the efforts of such staff. On the 1st, marking the start of the second half of the 7th term, he conveyed his gratitude through the internal network to the employees who quietly kept their posts and achieved many results despite the difficult times caused by COVID-19, and urged that “the remaining two years will be a reliable companion for all residents throughout their life cycles.”
In this context, the ‘Nowon Residents’ Perception Survey on District Administration’ conducted in June with 700 Nowon residents on the occasion of the 2nd anniversary of the 7th term holds great significance. Nine out of ten residents positively evaluated the district’s administration, and eight out of ten expressed satisfaction with living in Nowon-gu.
Regarding such evaluations from residents, Mayor Oh said, “While I am grateful for the positive evaluations from residents, I also feel a heavy sense of responsibility.”
Currently, Nowon-gu’s concern lies in population decline. Although there are inevitable aspects due to aging and some reconstruction, it is also true that as a planned city developed 30 years ago, the aging apartments cause inconvenience in living. To alleviate nighttime parking difficulties in apartment and residential areas, the district is requesting help to open parking lots of schools and large convenience facilities, supporting water pipe replacement costs, and improving residential area cleaning systems to make every effort to improve the living environment. Additionally, with the increasing need to improve transportation conditions, create jobs, and ensure residents’ healing lives, Mayor Oh’s second half term is bound to be busier.
Looking back on the two years of the 7th term in Nowon-gu, we also examined the major achievements so far and future challenges.
Since the inauguration of the Oh Seung-rok administration, Nowon-gu has had many first-time titles. Some projects have even gained recognition overseas, not just domestically.
The first was the ‘Nighttime Heat Shelter’ for the elderly. The summer of 2018 was a battle against the hottest heatwave ever recorded. Especially vulnerable elderly people living alone, reluctant to use energy due to electricity costs, suffered more. Seeing elderly people unable to sleep at night and staying outside, the idea of using the district office’s main auditorium as a ‘Nighttime Heat Shelter’ was conceived. All media paid attention, and then Minister of the Interior and Safety Kim Boo-kyum visited the district office, saw the site, and expanded the program nationwide the following year.
The ‘I-Hu Center’ for elementary school children of working parents is similar. It takes care of children until late evening when parents return from work, gaining great popularity among parents. Due to this response, Seoul City benchmarked it and is running the ‘Woori Care Center’ across Seoul by dividing it into zones. The original is Nowon-gu’s ‘I-Hu Center.’
Even now, as COVID-19 strikes the world, Nowon-gu was the first nationwide to deliver two masks per person directly to the homes of all 540,000 residents. To secure 1.1 million masks, they purchased as many as possible over a month. Mayor Oh was also the protagonist who turned the crisis into an opportunity for national unity. He organized the ‘Nowon Cloth Mask Volunteer Corps’ for socially vulnerable groups, producing and distributing 35,000 cloth masks. The volunteer corps received great response, with over 300 residents joining in just one day, gaining recognition both domestically and internationally.
It was introduced by the world’s four major news agencies AFP, UPI, AP, German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle, and China’s CCTV, becoming an international topic. The reason was to show the Korean people's willingness to voluntarily offer their time and labor in the face of national hardship to their own citizens.
The volunteer corps also gifted cloth masks to President Moon Jae-in, who was struggling to contain the COVID-19 situation, and in response, the president’s wife Kim Jung-sook sent a letter of thanks and ginger syrup as a gift, boosting the morale of the corps members.
The cloth mask volunteer corps is a special experience for Mayor Oh. He said, “It was an unforgettable moving moment in my life because beautiful hearts gathered to overcome a national disaster and turned it into an opportunity for national unity.”
□ A ‘Future City’ Vibrant with Jobs
Nowon-gu has a strong image as a bedroom community. It is a planned city developed under the government’s 2 million housing construction policy in the late 1980s. Fortunately, Nowon-gu has the last large-scale development site remaining in Seoul. It is the Chang-dong vehicle depot and driver’s license test site, covering 246,000㎡. The district is promoting the creation of a world-class bio-medical complex here. The plan is to anchor large hospitals such as Seoul National University Hospital and attract bio-related research institutes.
Korea has abundant medical information based on public health insurance, providing favorable conditions for clinical trials. Accessibility via the Outer Ring Road from Incheon Airport is also good.
With the addition of a K-POP dedicated performance hall in nearby Chang-dong, cultural performances and medical tourism targeting not only domestic but also foreign tourists are expected to create synergy. According to plans, not only the bio-medical complex but also commercial facilities such as hotels will be built, potentially creating about 80,000 jobs.
The district is also moving quickly. On May 22, it formed the ‘Nowon Bio Policy Advisory Group.’ Composed of nine experts in bio and future medical fields, the advisory group will advise on future plans based on research services for the creation of the bio-medical cluster promoted by Seoul City.
However, while a new base is being built in Namyangju for the Chang-dong vehicle depot, the relocation site for the driver’s license test site has not been finalized. But as of May, significant progress has been made in consultations among Seoul City, Nowon-gu, and the authorities of the relocation site, and a resolution is expected soon.
□ A ‘Transportation City’ That Is Faster and More Convenient
Nowon-gu is a transportation hub served by subway lines 1, 4, 6, and 7. However, surface transportation conditions are inconvenient. Fortunately, in 2016, the 3rd National Railroad Network Plan announced the ‘KTX Northeast Metropolitan Area Extension’ plan. This project connects Uijeongbu to Suseo via Gwangwoon University over 32 km. Once the railway opens, residents will be able to travel to Busan or Mokpo without transfers. Currently, using KTX requires nearly two hours to get downtown, so residents have high expectations.
Although delays have led some to speculate the project might be canceled, the district is urging prompt progress on the KTX Suseo-Uijeongbu extension in cooperation with local leaders. The northeastern metropolitan area has about 3.2 million people, accounting for 13% of the metropolitan population, but high-speed rail stations are concentrated in the southern areas such as Seoul Station, Yongsan, Gwangmyeong, and Suseo. With new towns continuing to develop in Namyangju Byeollae and Uijeongbu Millak, improving transportation conditions is urgent.
Last year, local leaders and members of the National Assembly from nearby areas held a press conference urging the swift implementation of the KTX Northeast Metropolitan Area extension for balanced national development.
Also, on May 26 this year, the district actively engaged in a meeting with Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Kim Hyun-mi, along with northeastern metropolitan area leaders and local lawmakers.
□ A ‘Healing City’ Adding Rest to Nature
The biggest change in Nowon-gu during the 7th term has been residents’ ‘healing’ life. Projects started with the idea of allowing residents tired of daily life to enjoy rest close to home are changing residents’ daily lives.
The clearest example is the transformed scenery of the Danghyeon Stream walking trail. Filled with large and small flowers in specialized gardens, Danghyeon Stream is lively from early morning with residents out to enjoy the flowers. Residents are busy taking photos of unknown flowers and searching their names online. The area in front of the petunia flower waterfall is a popular spot, with the flower language meaning “I feel at ease when I am with you.”
In the residents’ perception survey, 83% responded positively to the creation of flower streets with streetlight flower pots and the garden-like Danghyeon Stream. It was evaluated as understanding the hearts of residents who had been withdrawn due to COVID-19.
Other examples include the ‘Gyeongchun Line Light Garden,’ which has become a new nighttime attraction in Seoul; the ‘Bulgamsan Azalea Hill’ that turns red with 100,000 azaleas in April and May; the ‘Bulgamsan Butterfly Garden’ where butterflies can be observed year-round; the ‘Bulgamsan Circular Trail Observatory’ soon to be equipped with an elevator for disabled people to view the mountain scenery; the ‘Yeongchuksan Circular Trail’ in Wolgye-dong, the gateway to Nowon-gu; and the ‘Suraksan Dongmakgol Natural Recreation Forest,’ the first of its kind in Seoul, scheduled to begin construction next year. With these healing towns established by region, the number of resting places for residents is expected to increase.
□ A ‘Cultural and Sports City’ with Pauses
In October 2018, an autumn concert was held at the Gyeongchun Line Railroad Park in Gongneung-dong. The railroad stretching coolly between rows of trees, the atmosphere from old trains placed here and there, and the enthusiasm of the audience gathered in between transformed the area around Hwarangdae Station into a wonderful outdoor concert hall.
Mayor Oh said, “I thought deeply about the meaning of 5,000 people gathering in a remote place used as a walking space by residents due to the train route change to Chuncheon.” He diagnosed this as “a thirst for culture.”
Nowon-gu has the highest number of welfare recipients nationwide. Welfare expenses account for 65% of the total annual budget. However, welfare beneficiaries make up only 20% of the total population of Nowon-gu. Regarding this, Mayor Oh said, “Non-welfare residents may have complaints even if they do not voice them,” and “I thought about what could satisfy everyone and found that it is culture.”
Last year’s modern and contemporary masterpiece exhibition held at Buk Seoul Museum of Art in Junggye-dong supported the mayor’s diagnosis of culture.
“We exhibited works by Park Soo-keun, Chun Kyung-ja, and Kim Whanki, but to see such works, people always had to go to the Seoul Arts Center or Seoul Museum of Art,” he said. “With 150,000 visitors, I realized how great the residents’ thirst for culture is.” The district is planning European masterpiece exhibitions featuring artists like Chagall and Monet.
The district also raised the quality of festivals within the budget. Last year’s Nowon Lantern Festival attracted 300,000 visitors, with an economic ripple effect of 1.5 billion KRW. The Tal Festival attracted 230,000 visitors and introduced a competition format instead of the traditional parade on Dongil-ro Street. By distinguishing professional performance teams and club teams, the festival’s fun and quality were elevated. As a result, the economic effect was estimated at 3 billion KRW.
The district plans to regularize six major cultural festivals: Nowon Tal Festival, Taegangneung Cultural Festival Children’s Day Festival, Danghyeoncheon Lantern Festival, Future Science Festival, and Gyeongchun Line Autumn Concert. They are also exploring ways to improve festival quality, not just scale.
□ A Young ‘Education City’ for the Future
Nowon-gu is called the ‘Daechi-dong of Gangbuk.’ It has 94 elementary, middle, and high schools, the most among 25 autonomous districts, and seven universities. With high educational enthusiasm, it established the first dedicated education department nationwide in 2007, and its admission rates to prestigious universities and specialized high schools such as science high schools are among the highest nationwide.
According to the ‘2019 Middle School Graduates’ Career Status’ analysis based on Ministry of Education data for 251 middle schools nationwide, Nowon-gu ranked second nationwide in science high school admission rates after Gangnam-gu. It has maintained first place nationwide for three years with 175 students admitted to autonomous private high schools and international high schools.
Mayor Oh said, “Seoul parents often transfer their children to places with a good study atmosphere when they reach upper grades, and Nowon-gu is such a case,” adding, “Although the number of students is decreasing nationwide, the number of students in middle schools in Nowon-gu, where prestigious high schools are located, has not changed.”
Interest in education in Nowon-gu can be seen from the budget invested in education, including improving school educational environments. Although its fiscal independence rate is 15.3%, far behind Jung-gu’s 54.9%, it invests 27 billion KRW in education this year alone, more than financially sound Gangnam area districts. This is because they believe that investment in education will raise Nowon’s regional brand value and, in turn, increase residents’ asset values.
The district is currently focusing on building public education infrastructure. Reflecting this, Nowon-gu has well-equipped major experiential facilities. The Nowon Mathematics Culture Center, opened on October 17 last year, was the first of its kind among local governments nationwide, providing a hands-on space with workshops and playgrounds to make math fun.
The Seoul Science Museum located in Hagye-dong is also one of Nowon’s proud facilities, being Seoul’s first comprehensive science museum. It has four permanent exhibition halls to help youth understand basic science and popularize science. It covers space, the human body, genetics, ecology, and environment, providing an easy-to-experience space for scientific principles hidden in daily life.
The Nowon Space School located in Junggye Neighborhood Park is also popular. It offers experimental experiential learning such as the history of the universe, scientific inquiry, and astronomy classes. Equipped with a large astronomical telescope, it allows observation of constellations and partial solar eclipses where the moon partially covers the sun.
There are also facilities preparing for the 4th Industrial Revolution. The Nowon Youth Job Experience School, under the guidance of professors and students from Kwangwoon University’s College of Engineering, offers direct experience with core 4th industrial technologies such as coding education, AI, VR, robotics, 3D printing, and digital drawing.
□ A Warm ‘Health and Welfare City’ with Sharing
The ‘I-Hu Center’ that cares for elementary school children of working parents is one of Nowon-gu’s representative products. The ‘I-Hu (休) Center’ is located on the first floor of apartment complexes with more than 1,500 households or near schools in general houses, providing a safe and convenient place close to home and school for guardians and children.
Starting with the first center opened in November 2018 on the first floor of Sanggye Jugong Apartment Complex 10, 21 centers are currently operating. The plan is to expand to 40 centers by 2022 to create an environment where children can be raised safely.
The I-Hu Center was introduced at the ‘Moon Jae-in Government Inclusive Nation Social Policy Public Field Report Meeting’ held at Wolgye Cultural Welfare Center in February last year and was evaluated as a model case by the Blue House.
For working couples, the ‘Sick Child Hospital Accompanying Service,’ the first nationwide, is in operation, and six joint childcare rooms for preschool children and parents are currently running, with plans to install 19 by 2022.
The district places particular emphasis on elderly welfare. Currently, the proportion of elderly residents in Nowon-gu reaches 14%. Leisure facilities will be expanded from seven to eleven to improve accessibility for the elderly. Health centers will also increase from four to six.
Job support for the economic independence of the elderly is active. So far, 100 elderly people have been connected to jobs through the Elderly Job Center, 415 through the Senior Club, and 320 through the 50 Plus Center. The establishment of the ‘Elderly Happiness Corporation’ is also underway to provide customized jobs for the elderly in the aging society. It aims to create 1,000 jobs, examining the feasibility of business execution, cost-benefit analysis, manpower, and financial independence measures for the corporation.
Disability policies are also not overlooked. Thirteen projects are underway, including the construction of a Disability Job Center and support for wandering detection devices to prevent missing persons. Additionally, the district plans to continue ‘Visiting Health Bus’ health consultations at senior centers and care for low-income elderly living alone. The district’s resident safety insurance, benefiting all residents, is also a notable project.
Mayor Oh Seung-rok said, “Ultimately, the district office works well when the mayor works hard,” adding, “The next two years of the 7th term will be a time to tighten my shoelaces again, just like the past two years of wholehearted effort, to strive for Nowon’s 100-year future.”
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