[Seoul District News] GTX-C Dobong Section Ground-Level Opposition Committee Chair Heo Seul-gi and Dobong District Mayor Lee Dong-jin, National Assembly members In Jae-geun and Oh Ki-hyung attend... Eunpyeong District conducts major accident prevention inspections at directly managed workplaces... Gwanak District’s ‘Euncheon-dong Hope Village Alley Festival’ concludes... Gangbuk District holds opening event for ‘Small Human Rights Library’
[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] On the morning of the 22nd, 289 residents of Dobong-gu (Mayor Lee Dong-jin) held a press conference at the National Assembly regarding the unclear project changes, including the underground construction of the Dobong-gu section of the GTX-C line, and submitted a petition.
Attendees included local members of the National Assembly, Heo Seul-gi, chairman of the GTX-C Dobong-gu Section Ground Construction Opposition Committee, Mayor Lee Dong-jin of Dobong-gu, and National Assembly members In Jae-geun and Oh Ki-hyung.
The GTX-C line is a wide-area express railway connecting Deokjeong Station in Yangju-si, Gyeonggi-do, to Suwon Station in Suwon-si. Initially, an underground exclusive railway was planned for the entire Seoul section, including Dobong-gu, but just before the implementation agreement with the Hyundai Construction Consortium, selected as the preferred negotiator, the plan for the Dobong-gu section was suddenly changed to an above-ground route.
According to the original plan, the railway would share the Gyeongwon Line and Line 1 tracks near Deokjeong Station to Dobongsan Station, and a new underground exclusive railway would be constructed southward from the junction near Dobongsan Station. However, the 5.4 km section from Dobongsan Station to Chang-dong Station was changed to share the above-ground Line 1 tracks.
Mayor Lee Dong-jin of Dobong-gu stated, “We have collected signatures from 289 Dobong-gu residents and submitted a member-introduced petition requesting discussions at the National Assembly level to proceed with the underground construction of the Dobong-gu section of the GTX-C line as originally planned. We hope that the National Assembly will discuss this issue and that the Dobong-gu section of the GTX-C line will proceed according to the original plan.”
Eunpyeong-gu (Mayor Kim Mi-kyung) is launching a large-scale inspection tour of 56 directly managed workplaces, including the district office, public health centers, and community service centers, to prevent safety and health hazards following the enforcement of the Serious Accident Punishment Act.
The 'Serious Accident Punishment Act' holds management officials or heads of institutions accountable when serious accidents occur and came into effect on January 27 of this year.
This inspection is conducted by the Serious Accident Prevention Team, the district’s dedicated safety and health prevention organization, which will guide and inspect overall safety and health. The plan is to identify hazardous and dangerous factors according to Article 4 of the Serious Accident Punishment Act, establish improvement procedures, and achieve zero safety accidents.
The main activities include risk assessment guidance and inspection using a tour inspection checklist, investigating hazardous factors such as work environment measurements, and preparing improvement measures accordingly. Continuous monitoring and performance measurement will follow to identify and actively improve safety and health issues focused on the field.
In the future, the district plans to provide standard guidelines for safety and health prevention activities to each workplace to ensure practical safety and health for workers. A handbook containing key points of industrial safety and health laws and safety and health obligations will be produced and distributed.
Since the enforcement of the 'Serious Accident Punishment Act,' the district has taken proactive measures on 25 items, including policies, manuals, and education, to establish a safety and health management system and fulfill obligations.
Internal training has been continuously conducted since early this year for stakeholders at large construction sites, daycare centers, cleaning subcontractors, and district-operated workplaces.
Since February, joint guidance and inspections with external experts have been conducted, focusing on workplaces vulnerable to safety and health risks with many field workers. Through this, a total of 89 hazardous and dangerous factors, including exposure to musculoskeletal disorder risks, were identified and improved. Some local governments have visited the district directly for benchmarking, receiving favorable reviews.
Gwanak-gu (Mayor Park Jun-hee) successfully concluded the ‘Euncheon-dong Hope Village Alley Festival’ held on the 18th, receiving great enthusiasm from local residents.
The district stated that the festival was held under the auspices of the Euncheon-dong Urban Regeneration Field Support Center and the Urban Regeneration Residents’ Council to promote sustainable community revitalization and festival culture expansion in the area of 634 Euncheon-dong, selected in 2019 for the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s Urban Regeneration New Deal project ‘Saving Our Neighborhood.’
The festival featured various program booths by each division and contest project team, including ▲overseas cultural experiences ▲flower planting ▲coffee hand drip making ▲mosquito repellent making, conducted in a stamp tour format where participants received stamps for experiences and exchanged them for prizes.
Additionally, a flea market selling handmade crafts and food was operated, providing diverse entertainment for residents participating in the festival.
About 200 local residents visited the festival and participated in various activities together. The event notably revitalized communication and harmony among neighbors, which had been disrupted by COVID-19, while also contributing to the promotion of the urban regeneration project.
Building on the success of this festival, the district plans to hold a larger-scale urban regeneration festival around October that local residents and residents from other areas can enjoy.
Mayor Park Jun-hee said, “I hope this festival served as a place for communication and harmony among local residents frozen by COVID-19. We will continue to strive for sustainable local community revitalization based on residents’ communication and participation.”
Gangbuk-gu (Mayor Park Kyum-soo) is operating a ‘Small Human Rights Library’ within the Gangbuk Cultural Information Library and will hold an opening event.
The ‘Small Human Rights Library’ is located on the first floor of the Gangbuk Cultural Information Library at 145 Ohyeon-ro, Gangbuk-gu (Beondong). The library houses about 300 books on various human rights topics such as infants, children, adolescents, women, minorities, and labor.
The district will also hold events to commemorate the library’s opening. On July 15, from 1:00 PM to 5:30 PM, human rights films will be screened in the Everyone’s Yard on the 4th floor of the Gangbuk Cultural Information Library. The films include ‘My Special Brother’ and ‘Re-trial,’ both based on true stories.
On July 16, from 2:00 PM, lawyer Park Jun-young, the real-life model for the film ‘Re-trial,’ will give a special lecture titled ‘Human Rights, Meeting Stories.’ The lecture is expected to cover various human rights topics through Park Jun-young’s cases.
The film ‘Re-trial’ is based on the Yakchon Five-way Intersection murder case. It tells the story of a boy falsely accused of murder who was acquitted after 16 years through a retrial. Since then, lawyer Park Jun-young has handled multiple retrial cases, earning the nickname ‘Retrial Specialist Lawyer.’
Applications for the lecture can be made on a first-come, first-served basis starting June 27 via the Gangbuk-gu website. For more details, contact the Audit Officer.
From July 15 to 24, the district will also hold exhibitions including ▲decorating a human rights wish tree ▲displaying recommended human rights books ▲exhibiting human rights artworks.
The Gangbuk Cultural Information Library plans to hold various events aligned with human rights commemorative days such as International Nelson Mandela Day on July 18, International Youth Day in August, and International Day of Peace on September 21.
Kim Sang-man, Audit Officer of Gangbuk-gu, said, “We prepared this opening event hoping that residents will take a greater interest in human rights. We encourage many to participate in this event.”
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