All 23 Street Vendors Removed Through Dialogue and Communication Without Physical Confrontation
Continuous Dialogue and Persuasion Lead to Vendor Participation
Gwangjin-gu (District Mayor Kim Kyung-ho) cleared street vendors around Gangbyeon Station and Guui Station on the 15th.
The illegal street vendor areas, which had hindered residents' pedestrian rights and negatively impacted the urban landscape for the past 30 years, have disappeared, making way for clean and wide pedestrian pathways.
The street vendors removed this time were a total of 23 locations: 18 around exits 1 and 4 of Gangbyeon Station and 5 around exits 1 and 4 of Guui Station.
The street vendor areas that appeared decades ago around the Line 2 subway stations had been one of the challenges the district needed to resolve due to pedestrian inconvenience and urban aesthetic degradation.
To address these issues, the district held prior consultations with the street vendor operators starting in November last year and guided them toward voluntary cleanup. Subsequently, through individual meetings, the urgency of the removal was explained. Although initially met with strong resistance from the operators, continuous dialogue and persuasion eventually led to obtaining consent from all 23 operators.
This achievement was made in less than a year after the cleanup of 30 street vendor locations around Gangbyeon Station and Gangbyeon Woosung Apartments last year. It is the result of the continuous 'communication administration,' a core value of the 8th term district government.
The removal process on this day was conducted under the watchful eyes of many residents. District office staff and related company employees were deployed on-site to carry out the removal without physical conflicts. The disconnection of electricity, dismantling of facilities, waste disposal, and cleaning proceeded smoothly.
A local resident who frequently uses Gangbyeon Station said, “It’s astonishing that the street vendors near the Gangbyeon Woosung Apartment fence were removed less than a year ago, and now they are gone again like this.” He added, “Thinking about how the previously messy and crowded area around Gangbyeon Station will become pleasant and clean makes me feel good. I am grateful to the district office staff.”
Kim Kyung-ho, Mayor of Gwangjin-gu, said, “This street vendor cleanup is a model case demonstrating the power of administration that achieves results by steadily pursuing principles, even if it takes time.” He added, “We will continue to lead efforts to create a safe and pleasant pedestrian environment by regulating illegal street vendors in the area based on principle-driven street vendor policies.”
The district plans to improve the pedestrian environment and return it to the residents. Additionally, for livelihood-type street vendors, the district is considering changing to a permit-based system within a minimal scope.
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