Everyone Meets Mayor Oh Se-hoon... 'Metaverse Seoul' Opens

Seoul City, the World's First Public Metaverse Platform Established

[Asia Economy Reporter Kiho Sung] Seoul City is introducing 'Metaverse Seoul' as the world's first city. 'Metaverse Seoul' will support administrative services in various fields such as economy, education, taxation, and administration as its first phase of service.

On the 16th, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon held a briefing session on the introduction of 'Metaverse Seoul' at Seoul City Hall and demonstrated it himself, revealing these plans.

Metaverse Seoul is a new concept of administrative service planned in line with recent major societal changes such as the normalization of non-face-to-face interactions, advancements in information and communication technology, and the mainstreaming of the digital generation. Notably, as the world's first city, Seoul has established the 'Metaverse Seoul Basic Plan' in the public sector and plans to implement administrative services across all city governance areas through three phases: introduction (2022), expansion (2022?2024), and settlement (2025?2026).

As a leading smart city globally, Seoul has set 'Freedom, Companionship, Connection' as the core values of Metaverse Seoul and realized these by creating 'Creative and Communication Spaces,' 'Non-discriminatory Hyperreal Spaces,' and 'Reality Fusion Spaces' to encompass various public services.

First, the core value of 'Freedom' refers to a community space where people can creatively express themselves and communicate freely. This includes the Reading Seoul Plaza, seasonal mini-games, citizen participation contests, and the Metaverse Mayor’s Office, where people can participate in new community spaces 24/7, 365 days a year.

Second, the core value of 'Companionship' is a world where anyone can interact together as avatars without discrimination based on body, age, or environment. The 'Non-discriminatory Hyperreal Space' includes the Fintech Lab, Corporate Support Center, and experiences of Seoul’s top 10 tourist attractions. Participants as avatars can socialize regardless of their real body, age, or environment, and the connection between virtual and real worlds can create opportunities for added value.

Third, the core value of 'Connection' is the 'Reality Fusion Space' where virtual and real, people and people, and people and objects are linked. In the future, virtual counseling rooms for youth mentoring, 120 civil complaint chat counseling, issuance of civil documents, and Tax Square (local tax services) are expected to become representative communication channels for citizens.

The 'Metaverse Seoul App' can be used by searching for 'Metaverse Seoul' on Google Play Store or Apple App Store and downloading it.

As the first city in the world to build a public metaverse platform app, Seoul City stated that it will play the role of a First Mover to establish 'Metaverse Seoul' as a new standard model of public service in virtual space.

This year, as the second phase of Metaverse Seoul, the city plans to expand administrative services in various fields such as the Metaverse Citizen Safety Experience Center, real estate contracts, Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) Metaverse, foreigner support projects, and youth policy content discovery and construction. Additionally, it plans to integrate metaverse services individually built by the city and autonomous districts into the 'Metaverse Seoul Platform.'