[Takryu Cheongron] We Must Stop Excavating the Plaza That Only Wastes the Budget

Eunju Yoon, Secretary at the Urban Reform Center of the Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice

Yoon Eun-joo, Secretary of the Urban Reform Center at the Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice

The office phone rings again. "Why are you digging up a perfectly fine square?" "It's a waste of budget." Even when the voices of citizens are conveyed to the Seoul Metropolitan Government, Seoul does not listen at all. They dismiss it as mere opposition from some civic groups.

The current Gwanghwamun Square was restructured in 2009 by former Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon at a cost of about 70 billion KRW. At that time, Seoul City heavily promoted it as a "project for Seoul’s centennial future." If the square needs to be reconstructed again in just over ten years with an additional budget of 80 billion KRW, the reasons and grounds must be clear. The causes of failure of the previous project must be clearly identified, and responsibility must be clarified. Only then can the project be re-pursued to create a square that will last for the next 100 years. This is the only way to prevent the vicious cycle of new mayors and new experts digging up the Gwanghwamun area again.

However, Seoul City has not responded to public inquiries from civic organizations. They have only sent back irrelevant answers, claiming that they have communicated with citizens over 300 times and reflected citizen surveys, and will proceed with the project unwaveringly. It is questionable how many of the 9.7 million Seoul citizens actually know about this project properly.

Seoul City is currently facing the worst emergency situation with the mayor’s vacancy and the upcoming by-election in April next year. At present, the Acting Mayor is the Administrative Deputy Mayor, an appointed official. Although there is no explicit regulation in the Local Autonomy Act regarding the scope of authority of an acting official, looking at past cases such as the impeachment of former Presidents Roh Moo-hyun and Park Geun-hye, the consensus was that the acting official’s scope of duties is limited to maintaining the status quo. This is because allowing the acting Prime Minister to exercise the full authority of the President, which requires strong democratic legitimacy, could jeopardize the representative nature of the presidency. By analogy, the scope of authority of the acting mayor during a mayoral vacancy should also be considered limited to maintaining the status quo. On September 19 last year, Mayor Park Won-soon held an emergency press conference to declare the suspension of the Gwanghwamun Square restructuring project and pledged to follow the results of citizen communication. Overturning this and re-pursuing the project means the acting mayor is recklessly spending the budget to change the status quo, exceeding the scope of their duties.

Since 2012, Seoul City has implemented the 'Closing 11' policy for sidewalk construction, prohibiting road excavation and sidewalk block construction from December to February, the winter season. This is because low temperatures cause the excavated ground to freeze, leading to poor construction quality and posing safety risks to pedestrians. Accordingly, except for some exceptional cases such as emergency excavation due to natural disasters or accidents, or water pipe bursts, winter construction has been restricted. The current Gwanghwamun Square construction forced by Seoul City does not fall under any of these exceptions. It is difficult to understand why they are forcing winter construction in violation of their own guidelines.

Gwanghwamun Square is not only a space managed by Seoul City but also a nationally symbolic space. It is a meaningful place where the opinions of Seoul citizens and the people of the Republic of Korea are gathered and expressed. Seoul City should immediately stop the construction and listen to the voices of the citizens, the true owners of the square.