"‘Embarrassed to Receive the Presidential Award’... Jung Won-oh, Mayor of Seongdong-gu, Removes Banner"

Seongdong District Office in Seoul removed the banner congratulating the ‘Presidential Award’ received in this year’s Ministry of the Interior and Safety Disaster Management Evaluation on the 10th.

Jung Won-oh, head of Seongdong District Office, posted on his Facebook that morning, “The most honorable award earned through the dedication and hard work of our Seongdong District Office staff is no longer honorable but rather shameful, so I am taking down the banner,” along with a video and photos of the removal.

Seongdong-gu Office in Seoul is removing the banner commemorating the Presidential Award hanging on the exterior wall. Photo by Jung Won-oh, Seongdong-gu Office Chief's Facebook.

The Disaster Management Evaluation is a comprehensive assessment conducted by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety to diagnose the key capabilities at each stage of disaster management of 338 disaster management responsible institutions nationwide, including central government ministries, local governments, and public institutions. Every year, institutions are classified into three grades?excellent, average, and poor?based on their evaluation scores and are awarded accordingly. Seongdong District was selected as an award-winning local government and hung an 8-story-high banner on the outer wall of the district office building last September.

On the night of the 7th, Jung also posted on Facebook regarding President Yoon Seok-yeol’s declaration of martial law and the related insurrection incident, saying, “At this moment, I cannot raise my head before those who are standing guard in front of the National Assembly and at various rally sites in the cold, and those who have been watching the situation for days with a desire for democracy,” and added, “Power that rules over public sentiment cannot and must not exist.”

Jung wrote, “Although I feel devastated, I will never be powerless,” and “I will stand with all those who stayed awake that night when martial law was declared, who raised their voices despite their own discomfort, and who put their beliefs into action, and together we will reclaim our daily lives.”