“What was the reason Mayor Choi Min-ho of Sejong City fasted for six days?”
This refers to the incident where Mayor Choi began a fast in protest after the city council cut the entire budget of 1.45 billion KRW for hosting the 2026 International Garden City Expo, which was his campaign pledge.
“Beyond political implications, as climate change response has emerged as a global challenge, ‘gardens’ have now become a timely content and theme.”
A senior official from Seoul City told a reporter this. He also said, “Mayor Choi’s hunger strike helped spread nationwide awareness about ‘gardens.’”
This year, Seoul successfully hosted the 2024 International Garden Expo along the Han River. The event was so popular that about 8 million people visited during the hosting period.
The domestic garden expo trend was sparked by the Suncheonman International Garden Expo. Independent candidate Noh Kwan-gyu, mayor of Suncheon, with help from Democratic Party city council members, held the Suncheonman International Garden Expo, which rose to become Korea’s representative garden expo. This expo greatly enhanced Suncheon’s regional brand and boosted the local economy.
Most importantly, it was significant in firmly establishing the necessity of ‘gardens’ in the era of climate crisis among the public.
After visiting the Suncheonman International Garden Expo, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon immediately pushed strongly for creating a garden city, enabling the hosting of the 2024 Seoul International Garden Expo.
Mayor Oh’s passion is evident as Seoul’s ‘Green City Bureau’ was renamed the ‘Garden City Bureau (Director Lee Soo-yeon).’
To realize Mayor Oh’s enthusiasm for gardens on the ground, Director Lee Soo-yeon is faithfully playing the role of a ‘garden evangelist,’ implementing various project ideas to transform Seoul’s roads into green spaces and gardens.
After visiting the Suncheonman Garden Expo, Choi Ho-kwon, mayor of Yeongdeungpo District, held a proclamation ceremony in May declaring Yeongdeungpo as a ‘Garden City’ and ‘City of Flowers,’ and has since created a series of garden projects including the Mullae-dong flower garden, moss garden in Dangsan Park, and waterway garden in Yeouido Sister Neighborhood Park (formerly Ankara Park).
Oh Seung-rok, elected mayor of Nowon District in 2018 during the 7th local government term, has demonstrated remarkable capability by turning the entire Nowon area, blessed with natural conditions like Bulamsan and Suraksan mountains, into a garden, making it a model garden city admired nationwide and benchmarked by others.
Thus, cultivating ‘gardens’ while preserving local natural ecology has become a contemporary theme.
Meanwhile, Nowon District established the Healing City Leisure Bureau (Director Yoo Young-bong) during the 7th local government term, and recently Gwanak District also established the Park Leisure Bureau (Director Kim Dae-sung).
Gwanak District Mayor Park Jun-hee plans to develop Gwanaksan Mountain similarly to Nowon District, creating spaces that bring nature closer to residents and Seoul citizens.
In particular, Seoul City plans to actively support this trend of establishing green-related bureaus in autonomous districts.
Jongno District, blessed with natural conditions like Inwangsan Mountain and Gyeongbokgung Palace, and Jung District, with Namsan Mountain as its front yard, are expected to receive applause from residents and citizens alike if gardens are created in spaces between buildings.
Other Seoul districts such as Jungnang, Gangdong, Gangbuk, Dobong, Geumcheon, Seodaemun, Eunpyeong, Yongsan, Seongdong, and Gwangjin also appear to need to actively promote garden city projects.
Choi Ho-kwon, Yeongdeungpo District Mayor, with children at the opening ceremony of Mullae-dong Flower Garden
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