Seoul District Mayors Association Requests Special Disaster Area Declaration for Yeongdeungpo, Gwanak, Dongjak, Geumcheon, and Gangnam Districts

Seoul District Mayors Association Holds 171st Regular Meeting on the Morning of the 17th, Approves Emergency Agenda for Flood Recovery, Resolves to Recommend to Ministry of the Interior and Safety and Seoul City... Chairman Lee Seongheon Thanks Autonomous Districts for Generous Support in Flood Damage Recovery, Pledges Close Cooperation with Seoul City for Citizens' Swift Return to Normalcy... Recommends Increasing Participation in Seoul City Urban Planning Committee, Currently Composed of 30 Members, Criticizes Inclusion of Only One District Mayor

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] The Seoul Metropolitan Council of District Mayors (Chairman Lee Seong-heon, Mayor of Seodaemun-gu) held its 171st regular meeting at 7:30 a.m. on the 17th at Dalgaebi, discussing a total of nine agenda items including the ‘Request for Budget Support for Flood Damage Recovery due to Heavy Rainfall.’

In his opening remarks, Chairman Lee Seong-heon said, “I would like to thank the district mayors who mobilized all available equipment and personnel from each autonomous district to support us during this critical situation where there were fatalities caused by record-breaking heavy rainfall.” He added, “We will do our best to work closely with the Seoul Metropolitan Government to ensure timely assistance reaches the right places for the swift recovery of citizens’ daily lives.”

At the meeting, three internal secretariat agenda items were discussed: ▲The first-year operational plan for the 8th term of the Seoul Metropolitan Council of District Mayors ▲The first-year revenue and expenditure budget for the 8th term ▲Recommendation of members for the Seoul Metropolitan Urban Planning Committee. Additionally, three proposals from autonomous districts were reviewed: ▲Establishment of criteria for boundary changes of candidate sites for the Rapid Integrated Planning Private Redevelopment Project (Seodaemun-gu) ▲Proposal for disaster relief payments to all Seoul citizens (Guro-gu) ▲Request for reconsideration of the reduction of city subsidies between Seoul and autonomous districts (Songpa-gu, Dongjak-gu, Dongdaemun-gu, Gangdong-gu).

Regarding a key agenda item, concerns were raised about the current composition of the Seoul Metropolitan Urban Planning Committee, which consists of 30 members but includes only one district mayor. It was decided to first increase the number of participants and then recommend members later, considering various circumstances.

The proposal for disaster relief payments to all Seoul citizens was agreed upon in principle, but was deferred due to differing budget allocation priorities among districts, such as flood recovery costs. Except for these two items, the remaining four agenda items were all approved as originally proposed.

One major agenda item, ‘Establishment of criteria for boundary changes of candidate sites for the Rapid Integrated Planning Private Redevelopment Project’ (Seodaemun-gu), proposed that Seoul Metropolitan Government set official standards for boundary changes. This was to address issues where some candidate sites selected last year had unstandardized boundaries or frequent requests for boundary changes after selection, causing problems due to the lack of formal criteria.

The ‘Request for reconsideration of the reduction of city subsidies between Seoul and autonomous districts’ (Songpa-gu, Dongjak-gu, Dongdaemun-gu, Gangdong-gu) reflected concerns that recent amendments to Seoul’s Local Subsidy Management Ordinance and its enforcement rules lowered the minimum subsidy rates for city-subsidized projects, which could increase the financial burden on districts in the future.

Participants unanimously agreed on the need to comprehensively raise the upper and lower limits of the standard subsidy rates or rationally readjust the financial sharing for subsidized projects, taking into account the financial situations of each district.

In addition, urgent agenda items related to flood damage recovery were added: ▲Securing dedicated personnel for slope management (Jungnang-gu) ▲Improvement of Seoul-style emergency welfare housing support system (Geumcheon-gu) ▲Proposals for support measures for flood damage caused by heavy rainfall (Yeongdeungpo-gu, Geumcheon-gu, Gwanak-gu, Gangnam-gu, Dongjak-gu). All three items were approved unanimously.

Notably, the ‘Proposals for support measures for flood damage caused by heavy rainfall’ submitted by five districts included requests for ▲Declaration of special disaster areas for heavy rainfall damage ▲Expansion of support for flooded semi-basement houses and small business owners ▲National and city government support for river flood damage recovery costs → Additional selection of ‘Moe Town’ in habitual flood-prone areas ▲Realistic recovery costs for housing and small business owners, reflecting the voices of citizens from the affected districts.

Participants agreed that the rapid recovery of citizens affected by flooding depends on prompt support and decided to actively request support from related agencies such as the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the Seoul Metropolitan Government.

As examples of excellent district initiatives, nine cases were shared: ▲Installation of around-view cameras on large cleaning vehicles (Jongno-gu) ▲Activation of creative education linked with companies (Jongno-gu) ▲Opening and operation of a garden support center (Jung-gu) ▲Operation of the resident participation online platform ‘Big Forest of Participation’ (Eunpyeong-gu) ▲Promotion of the Ansan footpath loess road project (Seodaemun-gu) ▲Creation and exhibition of murals at Seokchon Lake cultural experimental space (Songpa-gu) ▲Customized employment linkage project for small and medium hospitals and clinics (Gangdong-gu) ▲Improvement of civil complaint management to strengthen resident communication in the 8th term (Gwangjin-gu) ▲Support for self-test kits and moving expenses for vulnerable groups (Gwangjin-gu).

The meeting was attended by Chairman Lee Seong-heon (Mayor of Seodaemun-gu), Secretary-General Park Il-ha (Mayor of Dongjak-gu), and a total of 24 district mayors (including seven deputy mayors attending on behalf of mayors). The 172nd regular meeting, to be held jointly with the Seoul Metropolitan Government, is scheduled for September 14 at Seoul City Hall.