Mapo-gu Expands Demand-Centered Private Temporary Housing Facilities

Seven Additional Private Temporary Housing Facilities Designated, Total of Nine in Operation

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Mapo-gu (Mayor Park Gang-su) is making every effort to secure ‘private temporary housing facilities,’ emergency temporary shelters for residents who have lost their homes due to sudden disasters such as fires.

This expansion of private temporary housing facilities aims to provide prompt and efficient relief services to disaster victims by pre-designating independent private temporary housing facilities that offer high residential convenience and privacy protection.

This represents an upgrade from the previous fragmented approach of accommodating disaster victims in collective temporary housing facilities such as government offices, gymnasiums, and schools, shifting to a demand-centered relief service.

The district plans to expand the designation of private temporary housing facilities with the goal of securing one accommodation facility per administrative district to resolve regional concentration and provide psychological stability for disaster victims.

Private temporary housing facilities are designated by the district mayor after prior consultation with the accommodation facility owners. Currently, the district has designated seven additional private lodging facilities such as hotels, securing a total of nine private temporary housing facilities, with plans for further expansion.

In the event of a disaster, the district provides temporary housing facilities located closest to the disaster area according to the relief procedures for disaster victims and supports relief costs through Seoul-type emergency welfare or the district’s disaster management fund based on the victims’ income levels.

Park Gang-su, Mayor of Mapo-gu, said, “With the expansion of private temporary housing facilities, we can now provide comfortable and prompt relief services to residents in disaster situations,” adding, “We will continue to develop various policies to ensure the housing safety of disaster victims.”

Mapo-gu announced that Park Gang-su, the mayor of Mapo-gu, conducted a safety inspection of Hongdae Entrance with residents until the evening of the 31st.

Mapo-gu Conducts Joint Public-Private Safety Inspections in Hongdae Every Day from 8 PM During Year-End and New Year Period from 23rd to 31st

Mapo-gu (Mayor Park Gang-su) announced that following the Itaewon incident, it has been fully committed to resident safety measures by conducting continuous special safety inspections and campaigns during ‘World Cup game days’ and the ‘year-end period,’ when crowds are expected.

From December 23 to 31, during the year-end and New Year period, the district conducted joint public-private safety inspections in Hongdae every day from 8 PM, focusing on ▲on-site inspections and order guidance in crowded areas ▲removal of illegal obstructions and hazardous facilities blocking pedestrian paths ▲Safety Mapo campaign with residents ▲strengthening CCTV monitoring in crowded areas such as Hongdae Street, according to a press release on the afternoon of the 1st.

During the campaign period, without exception, the mayor led public officials, local residents, the autonomous crime prevention squad, sports association, Saemaul Movement groups, the Federation of Freedom, Barun Living Movement groups, tourism security officers, residents’ autonomy committees, and coexistence committees?all related district organizations?to voluntarily participate in safety campaigns.

Through these efforts, Mapo-gu cleared various advertisements, sales stands, illegally parked vehicles, and motorcycles blocking pedestrian paths, and secured smooth walking routes by removing ice from the ground and applying anti-slip coatings urgently.

On December 31, the date of a media report, a total of 90 public officials conducted safety accident prevention activities from 8 PM to 10 PM in the Hongdae tourist special zone, divided into three patrol routes to manage crowd density.

After 10 PM, in cooperation with Mapo Police Station, 60 police officers conducted safety accident prevention activities in the Hongdae area, while fire personnel maintained an emergency contact system and remained on standby on the 31st.

The Mapo-gu Integrated Control Center continuously conducted special monitoring through over 150 CCTVs installed in the Hongdae tourist special zone to prevent accidents caused by crowding, working jointly with Seoul City to make every effort to prevent safety accidents due to crowd congestion.

◇ December 31 Mapo-gu Inspection Personnel: Total 90

(35 public officials, 5 Mapo-gu council members, 20 autonomous crime prevention squad members, 20 Mapo-gu neighborhood leaders, 5 Mapo tourism environment security officers, 5 Mapo-gu sports association members)

◇ December 31 Hongdae Tourist Special Zone Patrol Routes: Divided into 3 teams

· Team 1: Mapo-gu Hongdae Club Street area

· Team 2: Hongtong Street to Walking Street area

· Team 3: Hongdae Public Parking Lot Street area

In particular, the mayor’s daily direct participation in the Safety Mapo campaign led to a shift in safety awareness, with merchants voluntarily participating in securing pedestrian paths. However, the district office stated that it lacks authority to enforce order maintenance on citizens using multi-use establishments such as clubs on the streets and can only request cooperation.

On the other hand, the police operate night shifts in three rotations, making night order maintenance fundamentally a police responsibility.

The district office explained that despite having no system or personnel to deploy public officials for safety matters, the district office and citizens are voluntarily taking action.

It emphasized the urgent need for legal, institutional, personnel, and budgetary measures to supplement the district office’s capacity regarding safety issues.

A district official said, “If judicial police officers under the Ministry of the Interior and Safety’s Police Bureau are assigned to local governments with personnel authority granted or delegated, rapid responses to such issues would be possible.”

Nowon-gu Achieved Total of 797 Smoking Cessation Successes Last Year... 160 Million KRW Paid in Smoking Cessation Success Support Funds

Nowon-gu (Mayor Oh Seung-rok) announced that it will implement projects to strengthen the smoking cessation environment and support residents determined to quit smoking in the new year 2023.

Nowon-gu, which enacted the nation’s first ordinance related to creating a smoke-free environment in 2014, is the only autonomous district to provide smoking cessation success support funds and has carried out various projects such as smoking cessation apartment certification and educational programs.

Welcoming the new year, the district has stepped up support for smoking cessation through clinics and strengthened smoking enforcement to further enhance the smoking cessation environment.

Residents wishing to quit smoking can receive counseling at smoking cessation clinics and various supports. Nicotine dependence tests and carbon monoxide measurements are conducted, followed by provision of smoking cessation aids.

The clinic, located on the second floor of Nowon-gu Public Health Center, operates from 9 AM to 6 PM, but to accommodate busy workers, the district offers diversified counseling centers including open health center hours, regional smoking cessation clinics, and mobile smoking cessation clinics to help residents quit smoking.

Nowon-gu operates an incentive system, unique among Seoul’s autonomous districts, that pays up to 600,000 KRW in cash upon successful smoking cessation through the clinic, funded by fines collected from smoking violations in non-smoking areas.

The support fund can be claimed based on the number of months of success if the resident is registered in Nowon-gu from the registration date at the clinic to the date of smoking cessation success: 100,000 KRW for one year, 200,000 KRW for two years, and 300,000 KRW for three years of success.

Last year, a total of 6,990 residents visited the smoking cessation clinic for counseling, with 2,170 registering at the clinic. A total of 797 succeeded in quitting smoking and received about 160 million KRW in support funds, showing strong resident response to the program.

Additionally, the district plans to operate smoking ban zones and conduct active enforcement activities to prevent secondhand smoke damage and create an effective smoke-free environment.

Last year, the district designated Hancheon-garo Park, and the exits of Gongneung Station and Hwarangdae Station as additional non-smoking zones, managing a total of 10,760 non-smoking areas and issuing 3,193 fines.

Starting January, the district will strengthen smoking enforcement and guidance by recruiting four more smoking control officers and operating six enforcement teams including two night shifts. From February, it will also launch projects to activate resident participation such as recruiting neighborhood smoking cessation monitoring teams.

Oh Seung-rok, Mayor of Nowon-gu, said, “Many people fail to quit smoking due to lack of information or willpower despite their resolution,” adding, “We will actively implement smoking cessation support projects for residents who want to succeed in quitting smoking in the new year 2023.”

Geumcheon-gu to Operate Lunar New Year Sister City Agricultural, Marine, and Specialty Products Direct Market at District Office Plaza on January 12-13

Geumcheon-gu (Mayor Yoo Sung-hoon) announced that it will hold a ‘Lunar New Year Sister City Agricultural, Marine, and Specialty Products Direct Market’ at the district office plaza from January 12 to 13.

Geumcheon-gu has operated holiday direct markets online since Chuseok 2020 to prevent the spread of COVID-19, but this Lunar New Year direct market will be held offline for the first time in about three years in line with the recovery of daily life.

The direct market is designed to directly introduce agricultural, marine, and specialty products from sister cities to residents, supporting sales channels for farmers facing difficulties, while helping residents prepare for the Lunar New Year with excellent specialty products.

The market will operate from 9 AM to 6 PM. Participants can purchase 84 items from sister cities Goheung-gun, Cheongyang-gun, Namhae-gun, and Hoengseong-gun at prices discounted 5-30% compared to market prices. Items include ▲handmade cookies ▲spinach ▲anchovies ▲goji berries ▲pancake mix ▲apples ▲chestnuts ▲rice cake soup rice cakes, among others.

Yoo Sung-hoon, Mayor of Geumcheon-gu, said, “At this direct market, residents can find excellent agricultural, marine, and specialty products from Geumcheon-gu’s sister cities at affordable prices,” adding, “We will continue to discover content for mutual development through exchanges with sister cities beyond just direct markets.”

‘2022 Gangseo-gu Big Data Analysis Project’ Completed

Gangseo-gu, Seoul (Mayor Kim Tae-woo) announced the completion of the ‘2022 Gangseo-gu Big Data Analysis Project’ aimed at swiftly responding to rapidly changing administrative environments.

With the advent of the 4th Industrial Revolution, information and communication technologies have rapidly advanced, generating vast amounts of data in real time.

Accordingly, the district conducted this project to appropriately utilize big data in changing administration and provide the best administrative services to residents.

To select tasks, the district held a big data idea contest in March open to all residents, businesses, and organizations, gathering ideas from employees in each department.

As a result, three tasks were identified for big data analysis: ‘Proactive Support Analysis for Alley-type Shopping Districts,’ ‘Analysis of Areas Lacking Life-closely SOC,’ and ‘Optimal Site Analysis for Intelligent Selective Surveillance Systems.’

Three areas including proactive discovery of alley-type shopping districts, analysis of life-closely SOC shortage areas, and optimal site analysis for intelligent selective surveillance systems identify administrative demands and resident needs through big data

First, the ‘Proactive Support Analysis for Alley-type Shopping Districts’ analyzed local business status, visitor characteristics, transaction methods, and consumption traits. This data will be used to select potential alley-type shopping district candidates in the future.

The ‘Analysis of Areas Lacking Life-closely SOC’ analyzed the density of life SOC, population statistics, and transportation to identify areas lacking facilities. This will be used for public institution and resident convenience facility location analysis.

Lastly, to overcome the shortage of CCTV monitoring personnel and respond quickly to various incidents and accidents, the ‘Optimal Site Analysis for Intelligent Selective Surveillance Systems’ analyzed CCTV status, floating population, and population data to identify surveillance-vulnerable areas, which will be used for future CCTV installation site selection.

A district official said, “The big data platform is a valuable resource for accurately understanding district administration and establishing suitable policies,” adding, “We will continue to actively utilize big data in administration to improve residents’ quality of life.”

Guro-gu Selected as Excellent Institution in Two Categories: Seoul City Disaster Management Evaluation and Integrated Support Headquarters

Guro-gu (Mayor Moon Heon-il) was selected as an excellent institution in two categories: ‘2022 Seoul City Disaster Management Evaluation’ and Integrated Support Headquarters.

The district maintained a response system for disaster situation management, conducted rapid initial response during disasters, secured and managed disaster relief infrastructure, provided professional training for disaster and safety management personnel, and inspected preparedness for natural disasters in summer and winter, receiving excellent evaluations across the disaster management evaluation categories of ▲common ▲response ▲recovery.

Additionally, to ensure rapid response and recovery at disaster sites, the district formed an ‘Integrated Support Headquarters for Disaster Sites’ and participated in a command capability enhancement center training hosted by Seoul City in May, conducting disaster situation simulations. In October, it conducted earthquake disaster scenario training, and in November, safety Korea drills simulating wind, flood, and fire disasters, enhancing response capabilities through various mock drills. The district also managed and analyzed operation logs of the Integrated Support Headquarters and shared them with other local governments to improve deficiencies and benchmark best practices, strengthening its capacity as a disaster management responsible institution. These efforts resulted in high evaluations in the Integrated Support Headquarters category as well.

Furthermore, with the year-end and New Year approaching, the district established comprehensive safety measures for large-scale performances at Gocheok Sky Dome and is conducting real-time monitoring for safe passage on-site. It is also intensively cracking down on street vendors and illegally parked vehicles around the event venue and cooperating with related agencies such as Guro Police Station and Guro Fire Station to deploy additional safety management personnel, continuously preparing for crowd safety accidents.

Moon Heon-il, Mayor of Guro-gu, said, “Perfect disaster preparedness is an essential condition for a safe Guro-gu,” adding, “We will continue to do our best with regular inspections and system maintenance for the safe daily lives of residents.”