[Photo] Lee Soon-hee, Gangbuk District Mayor, Holds 'Dialogue with Residents' in the 8th Elected Term

[Seoul District News] Lee Soon-hee, Gangbuk-gu Mayor, Tours 13 Neighborhoods from Aug 29 to Sep 6 to Hear Local Issues... Lee Ki-jae, Yangcheon-gu Mayor, Draws Attention with Full Effort to Expedite Reconstruction... Kim Mi-kyung, Eunpyeong-gu Mayor, Holds Regular Meeting of Eunpyeong Tomorrow Advisory Group and Review Report on Campaign Projects in 8th Term

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Lee Soon-hee, Mayor of Gangbuk-gu, has started touring 13 neighborhoods to listen to local issues and engage in dialogue with residents.

The district announced that the 'Dialogue with Residents,' held from the 29th to September 6th to facilitate communication with residents, invited a broad range of residents from various social strata rather than the usual attendees, reflecting Mayor Lee Soon-hee's commitment to incorporating diverse citizen opinions into district administration during the 8th term of the elected government.

The first dialogue session, held on the 29th at Samyang-dong Community Center, was conducted in a format where residents presented their suggestions on local issues and received responses.

The event was attended by politicians including members of the National Assembly, city councilors, Gangbuk-gu council members, as well as local organization members and residents of Samyang-dong.

Before the dialogue, a video outlining the direction and vision of the 8th term Gangbuk district administration was screened. Afterwards, residents raised issues such as ▲budget support measures for the operation of the Residents' Autonomy Committee ▲guidance and promotion of the aged housing improvement system ▲support for redevelopment of the Sonamu Cooperative Village ▲measures for vacant and abandoned houses ▲adjustment of the slope on Solmaero 22ga-gil.

Mayor Lee Soon-hee and district officials stated that they would “meet residents directly on-site and seek solutions to the issues raised.”

The district will continue the dialogue sessions in the following order: ▲August 30th at Beon 1-dong and Songcheon-dong ▲August 31st at Samgaksan-dong and Beon 2-dong ▲September 1st at Suyu 1-dong and Ui-dong ▲September 2nd at Suyu 2-dong and Mia-dong ▲September 5th at Beon 3-dong and Songjung-dong ▲September 6th at Suyu 3-dong and Insu-dong.

The event in Suyu 3-dong will be held at the second-floor education hall of Seongsil Church, and in Insu-dong at the Happiness Room of Gangbuk Culture and Arts Center, while the other neighborhoods will hold their sessions in community center auditoriums.

Mayor Lee Soon-hee said, “We will become a Gangbuk-gu administration in the 8th term that directly communicates with residents and fulfills their wishes. We will carefully listen to residents’ voices and strive to reflect their intentions in district governance.”

Lee Ki-jae, Mayor of Yangcheon-gu, is making every effort to accelerate redevelopment and reconstruction projects.

Externally, he is submitting objective data supporting the necessity of reconstruction to related government bodies such as the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and Seoul City, while internally, he plans to form an Urban Development Promotion Team to assist residents in overcoming administrative difficulties during the reconstruction and redevelopment processes.

In particular, he emphasized the need to relax safety inspection standards in line with the national housing stability measures, and on the 24th, he personally visited the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to convey opinions on housing policies as well as residents’ views and trends. (Photo)

Yangcheon-gu highlights three main reasons for the necessity of relaxing safety inspection standards. First, the acceleration of poor residential environments. Issues such as lack of parking, noise between floors, and aging water facilities causing rust and leaks, along with frequent power outages, are increasing inconveniences in overall residential life.

Second, residents’ safety is seriously threatened by falling exterior walls due to building aging and fire accidents triggered by outdated facilities. Recently, during record heavy rains, the masonry exterior wall of an apartment in Mok-dong detached and fell onto a walkway within the complex, prompting a full inspection of the exterior walls of Mok-dong apartment complexes.

The inspection revealed that all complexes have masonry walls and, despite ongoing repair work on cracks, rainwater infiltration is occurring in the cracked areas due to aging repairs. This increases the risk of exterior wall detachment and falling accidents, raising serious concerns about potential casualties and property damage.

Third, in the event of a fire in the high-rise Mok-dong apartments, double parking makes it difficult to position ladder trucks, forcing firefighters to climb stairs to extinguish fires, severely hindering firefighting and emergency activities. Considering residents exposed to safety risks, the mayor has requested that relaxed new standards be applied to complexes currently undergoing appropriateness reviews to expedite reconstruction.

Mayor Lee Ki-jae said, “Relaxing reconstruction regulations is not only directly related to improving residents’ living environments and safety but also essential for stabilizing housing supply. Since the Ministry of Land has expressed willingness to ease safety inspections, Yangcheon-gu will prepare response plans and devote all efforts to enabling the swift construction of new future-oriented apartment complexes.”

Kim Mi-kyung, Mayor of Eunpyeong-gu, held a regular meeting of the Eunpyeong Tomorrow Advisory Group and a review briefing session on the 8th term election pledges and major policies on the 26th to gather diverse opinions and suggestions.

Following the 7th term, the 'Eunpyeong Tomorrow Advisory Group' was reorganized to coincide with the launch of the 8th term. Distinguished experts actively working in various fields such as economy, urban planning, education, welfare, culture, finance, and environment were appointed.

The group will be responsible for advising and evaluating all aspects of district administration, including the establishment of long- and short-term basic plans, implementation, evaluation, and revision of election pledges, government innovation promotion, and execution of major district tasks.

During the subsequent review briefing session on the 8th term election pledges, the core contents of pledge projects from 26 department heads were shared, providing a meaningful opportunity to hear the advisory group members’ opinions. Based on this, the Eunpyeong Tomorrow Advisory Group will conduct advisory activities in the second half of the year to establish concrete plans for pledge implementation.

Mayor Kim Mi-kyung stated, “We will incorporate the in-depth discussions and suggestions from the Tomorrow Advisory Group during the review briefing session to create sustainable and effective pledge implementation plans. We will keep our promises to residents and develop Eunpyeong into a truly central city of Seoul through the 8th term administration.”