Is There a Way to Prevent the Proliferation of Heating Bill Bomb Banners?

Seoul District Mayors' Association Holds 177th Regular Meeting on the 15th, Discusses Request for Amendment of Outdoor Advertising Act Regarding Political Party Banners

"No Legal Grounds for Local Governments to Respond to Political Party Banner Issues; Urgent Need to Amend Outdoor Advertising Act to Ensure Citizen Safety and Alleviate Inconvenience"

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] As heating costs soar, political parties are increasingly using street banners for political purposes.

The opposition Democratic Party of Korea has been putting up banners criticizing the government ruling party over the heating cost surge, while the ruling People Power Party has been displaying banners promoting the causes of the heating cost surge and support measures, sparking controversy.

The Seoul District Mayors' Association (Chairman Lee Seong-heon, Mayor of Seodaemun District) held its 177th regular meeting at 7:30 a.m. on the 15th at Conference House Dalgaebi (1st floor), focusing on this issue.

At the meeting, 13 agenda items including the "Request for Amendment of the Outdoor Advertising Act Regarding Political Party Banners" were reviewed and resolved, and other joint issues were reported.

In his opening remarks, Chairman Lee Seong-heon said, "I would like to express my gratitude to the 25 district mayors who all agreed to the emergency heating cost support for vulnerable groups suffering from the recent record-breaking cold wave and soaring heating costs, enabling smooth progress. Going forward, the association will cooperate with Seoul City to eliminate welfare blind spots so that no residents are left behind."

One of the main agenda items, "Request for Amendment of the Outdoor Advertising Act Regarding Political Party Banners" (Yangcheon, Seodaemun, Gangseo Districts), was discussed in depth by the attendees.

Since the amendment and enforcement of the Outdoor Advertising Act in December last year, political party banners are exempt from the Act’s regulations on permits, notifications, prohibitions, and restrictions outside the 15-day display period. As a result, political party banners occupy many roadsides, increasing inconvenience for citizens.

However, since local governments lack legal grounds to address various problems caused by political party banners, the discussion focused on establishing legal grounds for the installation and management of political party banners in the Outdoor Advertising Act and adding installation and management standards for political party banners in the Enforcement Decree of the Outdoor Advertising Act.

The majority of attendees agreed that "urgent amendments to the Outdoor Advertising Act are necessary to ensure citizen safety and alleviate inconvenience," and additionally suggested that the Enforcement Decree should delegate this matter to local ordinances, allowing local governments to regulate independently.

The "Proposal for Institutional Improvement Related to Pedestrian Environment Improvement Projects in School Zones" (Gangnam District) suggested amending the Rules on Installation and Management of Traffic Safety Facilities to allow skipping resident briefings held for designating one-way streets in school zones when public opinion is already formed or immediate traffic safety is required. Attendees agreed that children's safety should be the top priority and decided to finalize the proposal.

Other agenda items discussed and resolved included ▲Proposal to amend Seoul City ordinance to expand village bus operations (Seodaemun District) ▲Request to ease qualification (hiring) requirements for volunteer center directors by amending the Enforcement Decree and operational guidelines of the Volunteer Basic Act (Seodaemun District) ▲Proposal to improve measures to prevent abuse of on-site complaints at 120 (Response Center) (Seodaemun District) ▲Request to expand authority for decisions (changes) on public contribution facilities (Dongjak District) ▲Request for amendment of the Outdoor Advertising Act regarding political party banners (Yangcheon, Seodaemun, Gangseo Districts) (Seodaemun District) ▲Request to exclude pension contributions when calculating local government standard labor costs (Seongdong District) ▲Proposal for institutional improvement related to pedestrian environment improvement projects in school zones (Gangnam District) ▲Proposal to establish a public taxi garage (Gangdong District) ▲Request to strengthen regulations on building setback areas by amending the Building Act (Nowon District) ▲Request to switch national preventive vaccination projects to full national funding (Gangseo District) ▲Proposal to designate unmanned stores as multi-use facilities under the Multi-use Facilities Act (Gwanak District) ▲Request to relax national emergency welfare support criteria (Eunpyeong District) ▲Request to consider introducing a regional talent admission track at the University of Seoul (Dongdaemun District) and discussed promotion of the 2023 Suncheonman International Garden Expo.

Seongheon Lee, Chairman of the Seoul Metropolitan Council of District Mayors (second from the left), is speaking.

Among these, the proposals for ▲amending Seoul City ordinance to expand village bus operations (Seodaemun District) ▲easing qualification (hiring) requirements for volunteer center directors by amending the Enforcement Decree and operational guidelines of the Volunteer Basic Act (Seodaemun District) ▲improving measures to prevent abuse of on-site complaints at 120 (Response Center) (Seodaemun District) ▲requesting amendment of the Outdoor Advertising Act regarding political party banners (Yangcheon, Seodaemun, Gangseo Districts) were collectively reviewed and amended based on attendees' opinions. The remaining nine agenda items were all approved as originally proposed.

The meeting was attended by Chairman Lee Seong-heon, Secretary-General Park Il-ha (Mayor of Dongjak District), and a total of 25 district mayors (including deputy mayors representing eight districts).

The 178th regular meeting, to be held jointly with Seoul City, is scheduled for March 15 at Seoul City Hall.