Dongdaemun-gu Mayor I Pil-hyeong Meets Environment Minister to Actively Propose Current Issues

Dongdaemun-gu Mayor Lee Pil-hyung to Meet Environment Minister Han Hwa-jin at 3 PM on the 9th to Discuss National Funding Support and Local Issues

Minister Han Promises Active Cooperation and Support for Dongdaemun-gu’s Environmental Projects

Minister of Environment Han Hwa-jin (left) and Dongdaemun District Mayor Lee Pil-hyung (right) posed for a commemorative photo after delivering a petition on current issues following their meeting.

Dongdaemun-gu (Mayor Lee Pil-hyung) met with Environment Minister Han Hwa-jin on the 9th to request national funding support and active cooperation from the Ministry of Environment for various environmental projects in Dongdaemun-gu.

At the meeting, along with Mayor Lee Pil-hyung, Kim Kyung-jin, the People Power Party’s Eul District Committee Chair of Dongdaemun-gu, and Shin Bok-ja, a member of the Seoul Metropolitan Council, were present to emphasize the need for the Ministry’s cooperation and support regarding the district’s pressing issues.

The mayor proposed four agenda items to the Ministry of Environment: ▲relocation of vertical shafts and air supply wells, which have generated many civil complaints, ▲support for the construction and installation costs of a new climate change experience education center, ▲selection of Dongdaemun-gu as a participating local government in the Ministry’s Net-Zero City project, and ▲support for climate and environmental clubs in elementary and middle schools.

First, the district requested the Ministry’s active cooperation to relocate the vertical shafts within Jangpyeong Neighborhood Park, which is located in a large apartment complex and park area and has safety concerns and many complaints, as well as the air supply wells inside the Huigyeong Rainwater Pump Station retention basin, to the embankment slope of the Jungnangcheon Stream.

Additionally, the district emphasized the early budget support of 250 million KRW for detailed design and 6 billion KRW (50% national funding) for installation costs to build the new “Dongdaemun-gu Climate Change Experience Education Center,” intended to serve as a key hub for climate change and environmental education and promotion.

Furthermore, Dongdaemun-gu requested to be selected as a participating local government in the Ministry of Environment’s “Net-Zero City” project under the government’s New Growth 4.0 strategy, to serve as a testbed for residential and building sectors in Seoul. The district also actively proposed that the Ministry support climate and environmental clubs in elementary and middle schools to promote carbon neutrality practices.

Minister Han Hwa-jin stated, “I am very grateful to see a basic local government showing such strong interest and willingness to actively promote environmental projects. The Ministry of Environment will positively review and actively reflect the various projects proposed by Dongdaemun-gu.”

Mayor Lee Pil-hyung of Dongdaemun-gu said, “In response to the global climate crisis, we will maintain a closer cooperative relationship with the Ministry of Environment to actively respond at the local government level and develop diverse and specialized environmental policies unique to our district, aiming to become an eco-friendly green city leading carbon neutrality.”