Gwangju Seo-gu Promotes Measures to Eradicate Illegal Banners... Leading the Way to a Clean City

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] Seo-gu, Gwangju Metropolitan City (District Mayor Seo Daeseok) is seeing illegal banners disappear from Seo-gu as it implements various measures to eradicate illegal advertisements for a clean and safe urban environment.

According to Seo-gu on the 12th, the district has been operating a crackdown team 365 days a year, including weekends and holidays, to eradicate illegal advertisements such as banners.

They have organized two teams of 8 members on weekdays and two teams of 7 members on holidays to continuously maintain and enforce regulations.

Additionally, a night maintenance team of 3 members conducts surprise special crackdowns to resolve complaints.

During school terms and holidays, a special maintenance team operates in cooperation with the Gwangju Outdoor Advertising Association Seo-gu branch to focus on youth-harmful advertisements and various signboards that cause pedestrian safety accidents.

Users and installers of illegal advertisements are guided to voluntarily remove them and are informed of administrative penalties such as fines through an automatic warning phone call system.

In particular, the illegal advertisement collection reward system at key points is proving highly effective.

The collection reward system is a program that pays rewards for collecting illegal advertisements such as banners and posters attached to utility poles, streetlights, and street trees, as well as flyers discarded by the roadside.

The existing collection reward system has been expanded to designate areas where illegal banners are habitually installed and cause continuous complaints as key points for focused maintenance.

As of the end of last month, more than 20,000 banners have been collected through the key point collection reward system, significantly alleviating complaints.

Currently, six key points including the World Cup Stadium area are designated, operated with the participation of 36 people, and there are plans to expand if additional key points are needed.

In connection with the key point collection reward system, every Wednesday will be designated and operated as a ‘Banner-Free Day’.

Along with crackdowns, the district plans to actively respond by imposing fines and filing complaints against habitual and chronic violators.

Under current law, banners cannot be installed on facilities such as streetlights and street trees and must use designated banner posting boards.

For inquiries regarding the use of Seo-gu’s designated banner posting boards, contact the Gwangju Outdoor Advertising Association Seo-gu branch for detailed guidance.

A Seo-gu official stated, “Not only banners but also balloon advertisements and streetlight banners that spoil the cityscape will be maintained along major sections. Flyers indiscriminately distributed in entertainment districts such as Sangmu and areas dense with lodging facilities will be jointly cracked down on with related organizations such as the police station. We will actively promote illegal advertisement maintenance measures and enforce strong administrative penalties to eradicate illegal activities.”

Meanwhile, Seo-gu has been continuously cracking down on illegal advertisements, having maintained about 90,000 cases of illegal floating advertisements such as banners this year and imposed fines totaling over 400 million won in 13 cases.