Petition on National Petition Site to "Incorporate into Seoul"
"Mismatch of Administrative and Living Areas... Increasing Resident Inconvenience"
Some residents of Wirye New Town in Gyeonggi Province have posted a petition on the National Petition website requesting incorporation into Seoul. The reason is the inconvenience caused by the mismatch between residents' living areas and administrative districts.
On the 17th, a petition titled "Petition for the Incorporation of Wirye New Town into Seoul and Integration into a Single Administrative District" was made public on the National Assembly's National Consent Petition site. The authors are Kim Kwang-seok and Lee Ho-geol, co-representatives of the "Wirye New Town Seoul Incorporation Citizens' Group."
In their post, they stated, "When Wirye New Town was developed, it was originally planned as part of Songpa New Town, but due to desk-based discussions between local governments, the administrative district was divided into two metropolitan entities (Seoul and Gyeonggi) and three basic local governments (Hanam, Seongnam, Songpa)." They added, "As a result, the administrative authority and living area do not match, causing increased inconvenience for residents."
Petition on the inclusion of Wirye New Town into Seoul posted on the National Petition website [Image source=Captured from the National Assembly National Consent Petition website]
They continued, "Wirye New Town was developed as a single new town during the Roh Moo-hyun administration in 2005 as an alternative city to Gangnam, but it was sold without integrating the administrative districts." They explained, "After development, management and maintenance have been carried out separately by administrative districts, making it a representative area where residents experience significant inconvenience within Gyeonggi Province despite sharing the same living area."
Wirye New Town is divided by Wirye-daero running north to south and Wirye Jungang-ro running east to west. The northeastern part administratively belongs to Wirye-dong, Hanam City. Wirye-dong in Hanam City accounts for about 20% of the total 6.77㎢ area of Wirye New Town, making it the smallest section. The population of Wirye-dong in Hanam City is 34,975, which is less than that of Wirye-dong in Seongnam City (46,396) and Wirye-dong in Songpa-gu, Seoul (44,841).
However, although this area belongs administratively to Hanam City, its actual living area is much closer to Songpa-gu, Seoul. Moreover, the recently developed northern part of Wirye New Town, called Buk-Wirye, forms a virtually single living area with Geoyeo-dong in Songpa-gu, separated only by a street.
The side effects caused by this administrative division have been pointed out for some time. For example, students cannot attend schools just across the street due to different school districts, and if mail is returned, residents must travel via the highway to the post office near Hanam City Hall.
On the afternoon of the 8th, participants are shouting slogans at the launch ceremony of the Hanam Gam-il·Wirye Seoul Incorporation Promotion Committee held at the Wirye-dong Administrative Welfare Center in Hanam-si, Gyeonggi-do. [Image source=Yonhap News]
Co-representatives Kim and Lee said, "The failure to integrate administrative districts before selling the properties is the responsibility of politicians from both ruling and opposition parties, so why should we citizens endure the inconvenience caused by their mistakes?" They urged, "Please join the petition to prevent such flawed politics from happening again."
Earlier, about 200 residents of Wirye and Gam-il districts in Hanam City launched a Seoul Incorporation Promotion Committee at the Wirye-dong Community Center on the 8th. Kim, who posted the petition related to Wirye New Town, also serves as the president of the Hanam Wirye Residents' Representatives Association.
In response, Lee Hyeon-jae, mayor of Hanam City, recently stated in an official setting, "We will gather citizens' opinions and align with the direction desired by the citizens," expressing his intention to follow the will of the residents.
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