Kim Gil-seong, Jung-gu Mayor: "Residents' Peaceful Daily Life Begins with Safety"

Reinforcement of Facilities for Fire Preparedness in Traditional Markets, Support for Fire Insurance Enrollment
Comprehensive Social Welfare Center Safety Inspection, Support for Safety Inspection of Aging Buildings
Creation of Safe and Comfortable Routes to and from Bongrae Elementary School through Application of Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design

Seoul Jung-gu (District Mayor Kim Gil-sung), which has been thoroughly addressing tourist safety in areas such as Myeongdong and Namsan during the year-end and New Year holidays, will continue its safety-first policy in the new year.

The plan is to prioritize safety management focusing on vulnerable facilities exposed to various risks, including traditional markets, welfare facilities, aging buildings, educational institutions such as schools, and school commute routes.

This year, Jung-gu will concentrate on installing equipment to prevent fires in traditional markets. In particular, fire alarm facilities will be installed in traditional markets and shopping districts without managers. Hwanghak Market in Jung-gu, selected for a public contest project led by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, is scheduled to have fire detection equipment and an automated fire alert system established in the first half of the year. Once installation is complete, the system linked to the fire station will enable rapid dispatch and response when a fire occurs in individual stores.

Facilities to prepare for electrical fires, which account for the largest portion of traditional market fires, will also be reinforced. In the area around the main building of Namdaemun Market, famous for Galchi Alley, old main cables and terminal blocks will be replaced. At Pyeonghwa Market, the oldest in the Dongdaemun area, an Internet of Things (IoT) monitoring system will be installed on aging electrical cables to notify safety managers promptly in case of sudden overheating or fire, enabling swift initial response.

Additionally, circuit breakers that detect electrical sparks will be installed in the alley-type shopping district of Donghwa-dong, significantly reducing the risk of electrical fires in small-scale shopping areas.

Support will also be provided for subscribing to traditional market fire mutual aid insurance to help merchants quickly resume their livelihoods after a fire. Last year, insurance payments totaling approximately 250 million KRW were supported for 2,478 stores across 19 traditional markets. This year, the support will be expanded to 25 markets.

Safety inspections of three comprehensive social welfare centers will be completed by the end of this month. Since these facilities are frequently used by the elderly and vulnerable groups, risk factors will be examined more thoroughly. Focus areas include hygiene management of meal facilities, management of fire, electrical, and gas equipment, evacuation plans in case of fire, and bedbug prevention measures.

Safety inspections of aging buildings will be conducted throughout the year. If building owners or managers request, structural experts will visit the site to perform safety inspections. Applications for safety inspections can be made by contacting the Jung-gu Architecture Division.

Jung-gu is also applying Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) to school routes to make them safer and more pleasant. At the end of last year, the school route of Bongrae Elementary School was transformed. Children's drawings were incorporated into floor and wall designs to add familiarity, and highly visible colors were applied to the school route to encourage children to focus and walk slowly. Yellow carpets were painted in front of crosswalks to make children waiting for signals more visible to drivers, and crosswalks were painted yellow to encourage drivers to reduce speed.

At the New Year's opening ceremony on the 2nd, Jung-gu Mayor Kim Gil-sung expressed gratitude to employees who gave up holidays such as Christmas and New Year’s Day to conduct safety inspections. He also emphasized, “The peaceful daily life of residents begins with safety,” urging continued commitment to a ‘Safe Jung-gu’ in the new year.