[Interview] Yangcheon District Mayor Lee Gijae "Focusing on Safe Commutes Outside School and Creating Dream Playgrounds This Year"

Establishing Infrastructure for Safety and Care to Help Children Grow Healthily with Dreams and Hopes
28 Traffic Safety Instructors Assigned for Elementary School Commutes and Special Maintenance Around School Routes for New Semester
Major Renovation of Themed Playgrounds to Inspire Children's Imagination and Opening of 6th Uri Dongne Care Center

"We will further strengthen the infrastructure for children's safety and care so that our future generations can grow up safely and healthily."

Lee Gi-jae, Mayor of Yangcheon District, recently stated in an interview, "Focusing on children's happiness, we will lead the creation of a safe environment for raising children, as well as support for their dreams and future."

As a representative "education city," Yangcheon District is putting effort into policies for students and parents. Especially this year, the district plans to enhance safety on children's commuting routes and expand activity spaces and care facilities where children can freely play after school, thereby raising the status of a happy education city across education and childcare.

First, the district is making every effort to create safe commuting routes for the new school term. Since 2012, the district has been implementing the Children's Commuting Traffic Safety Guidance Project to prevent child traffic accidents and crimes, ensuring children's safety for over 10 years. This year, 28 traffic safety instructors will be assigned to 14 schools including Yanggang Elementary, Galsan Elementary, and Sinwon Elementary, with new strategic placement in high-risk areas tailored to each school's conditions to further narrow safety blind spots.

Additionally, the "Commuting Safety Support Project," first implemented last year with educational expense subsidies, received enthusiastic responses from teachers and parents, leading to a significant expansion this year. The project will increase from 21 elementary, middle, and high schools last year to 30 schools this year, providing up to 5 million KRW per school, totaling about 140 million KRW to support safety instructor activity costs and create safe commuting routes free of school zone traffic accidents.

Mayor Lee said, "Children adapting to unfamiliar environments at the start of the new semester may feel quite tense on their way to and from school. To prevent school zone traffic accidents that tend to occur during the new semester, we will carefully inspect and monitor safety blind spots to create a safe commuting environment where both children and parents can feel at ease."

In particular, last year, to create safe commuting routes, the district signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Yangcheon Police Station and Gangseo Yangcheon Office of Education and conducted a joint safety monitoring survey targeting elementary schools. As a result, 52 traffic safety facility improvement items were reviewed; so far, 18 items such as installation of signals and speed cameras and maintenance of safety signs have been immediately improved, and 34 items including new crosswalks and road markings are being sequentially implemented in cooperation with Yangcheon Police Station. This year, the district plans to strengthen organic cooperation among institutions to improve traffic safety facilities.

Alongside this, Mayor Lee emphasized the need for ample spaces that stimulate children's desire to play and allow them to run freely. By next year, 23 aging children's parks will be fully renovated into distinctive "theme playgrounds" that stimulate children's imagination, creativity, and adventurous spirit, going beyond simple play spaces.

In February, three parks were opened, including the Cultural Children's Park reminiscent of "The Little Prince" and Jinju Children's Park themed on "Marine Life." By the end of this year, nine aging children's parks in Sinwol-dong (4), Sinjeong-dong (3), and Mok-dong (2) will be transformed into playgrounds with various themes.

Although previously only partial repairs and maintenance were done on aging play facilities, this full renovation includes a variety of fun and safe play equipment that meet children's play facility safety standards, such as combination play structures, trampolines, and net bridge crossings. Additionally, shock-absorbing and easy-to-maintain elastic pavement materials have been installed to create a space where children with weaker immune systems can play safely.

Furthermore, to allow all children to play together regardless of disability, the district is establishing the nation's first public-private cooperative "Public Integrated (Barrier-Free) Indoor Playground" at Sintree Park. Mayor Lee said, "We designed it applying universal design to embrace all children and allow them to play without discrimination." Construction began this month, and the playground will be harmoniously linked with the park's natural environment to create a space where all children can safely play without external environmental constraints.

Following last year's Anyangcheon Family Park, this year the district plans to create a children's water play area equipped with an air pool and air slide at Seoseoul Lake Park in Sinwol-dong, enabling nearby parks to offer summer water play.

In addition, the district is committed to creating a warm childcare environment that parents can trust amid the "national crisis of ultra-low birthrate," making Yangcheon a happy city ideal for raising children. Especially for first graders in elementary school, who finish earlier than kindergarten or daycare, there is a care gap. Although care classrooms exist, there are about 8,700 children nationwide waiting due to priority given to low-income and dual-income families, and supply is insufficient compared to demand.

In this context, Yangcheon District attracted attention by opening "Our Neighborhood Care Center Yangcheon Branch No. 6" within Mokdong Complex 10 this month, providing customized community-based gap care services.

Despite a high elementary school population ratio (9.8%), this area had no public care facilities except school care classrooms, resulting in low usage rates. The center was reorganized from a reading room space and is available to any child needing care regardless of income for 50,000 KRW per month.

During the semester, it operates from 1 PM to 8 PM, and during vacations from 8 AM to 8 PM, strengthening evening care. To address weekend care gaps, it also operates on Saturdays from 9 AM to 1 PM, ensuring seamless elementary care.

Mayor Lee said, "Embracing our children's care within the public domain has become a national task. We will continue to expand substantial care facilities at the community level."

Moreover, the district is solidly establishing care services for preschool infants and toddlers. Since last year, Yangcheon has operated the first-ever year-round and nighttime specialized care service in Seoul's autonomous districts, the Yangcheon-style Overnight Emergency Care Daycare Center. This year, in addition to 24-hour overnight care, weekend care services are provided for parents who need childcare due to weekend work, allowing convenient use for the necessary time.

Mayor Lee concluded, "This year marks the halfway point of the 8th elected term, and we will maximize all capabilities for the happiness of residents. Based on past achievements, we will swiftly promote reconstruction and redevelopment projects, prepare effective measures for residents affected by airport noise, expand urban rail networks, and steadily pursue long-awaited tasks desired by residents to achieve valuable results of positive change."