Government, Seoul City, and Others Win a Total of 47 Awards in External Evaluations, Receiving 700 Million KRW in Incentives
Fruits of 'Local Autonomy' Focused Solely on Residents and Prioritizing Their Interests
Achievements Across All District Administration Areas Including Jobs, Welfare, and Education... Prize Money Reinvested in Stronger Welfare
Yeongdeungpo-gu (District Mayor Choi Ho-kwon) announced that over the past year, it has achieved a total of 47 awards across all areas of district administration?including economy, safety, urban development, and welfare?in evaluations conducted by Seoul City, government, and private organizations, receiving prize money totaling 700 million KRW.
During the past year, the district achieved outstanding results in various fields without bias toward any single area, including ▲economy and jobs ▲safety and transportation ▲urban environment ▲welfare ▲education and culture ▲health ▲general administration, earning numerous awards.
This is the result of the district’s consistent efforts in local development and resident welfare being recognized both internally and externally. It is the fruit of hard work under the conviction to always prioritize residents’ interests and realize true local autonomy.
At the start of the 8th elected term, Mayor Choi Ho-kwon stated, “The best welfare is jobs, and the starting point of urban development is also jobs,” expressing a firm belief and strong will regarding employment.
Based on this philosophy, focusing on employment support for middle-aged and older adults and expanding private sector jobs, the district achieved first place in overall employment rate and female employment rate, and second place in youth employment rate among all Seoul autonomous districts in the ‘National Local Government Job Awards.’ This accomplishment exceeded the initial job creation target by 105%, earning the district the ‘Ministerial Award.’
As welfare for the vulnerable deepened, the district continued its winning streak in the welfare sector. It received an Excellence Award at the ‘Outstanding Policy and Policy Case Selection Contest’ for the ‘Caregiver Family Rest System,’ the first of its kind introduced by a local government. Yeongdeungpo’s welfare policies swept Ministerial Awards in two categories of the ‘Regional Welfare Project Evaluation,’ setting a model for welfare administration. With the belief that educational opportunities should be equally provided to all, the district devoted great effort to lifelong education for the disabled, resulting in its designation as a ‘Lifelong Learning City for the Disabled’ for two consecutive years and receiving 100 million KRW in national funding.
Notable achievements were also made in safety, transportation, and garden sectors. For creating a safe city, the district’s dedication to realistic training earned it recognition as an excellent institution in both the ‘Disaster Management Evaluation’ and the ‘Disaster Response Safety Korea Training Evaluation.’ Additionally, it won the grand prize in the ‘Traffic Demand Management Evaluation’ for its high collection rate of traffic inducement charges, securing an incentive of 300 million KRW.
As part of the transformation toward a ‘Young City Yeongdeungpo,’ the district declared itself a ‘Garden City’ and ‘City of Flowers.’ The ‘Mullae-dong Flower Garden,’ a public site in Mullae-dong previously surrounded by high barriers and returned to residents, was awarded an Excellence Award in the ‘Seoul City Attractive Garden Competition,’ recognizing its value.
Furthermore, to nurture the dreams and hopes of youth, the future leaders of Yeongdeungpo, the district created ‘Sairo,’ a dedicated space for the twin generation (ages 12?16) at Seonyudo Library?the first of its kind in Seoul?earning a Ministerial Award in the ‘Library Operation Meritorious Service Awards.’ The district also won Ministerial Awards for its outstanding dementia prevention projects at the ‘Dementia Overcoming Day Meritorious Service Awards’ and achieved a double crown in the ‘Seoul Dementia Management Project Performance Evaluation.’
Efforts to implement transparent administration also shone. In the ‘2024 Public Institution Integrity Evaluation’ conducted by the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, the district improved by one grade from the previous year to receive a level 2 rating, ranking among the top in Seoul’s local governments. It was also selected as the best institution among district-level local governments with populations over 300,000 in the Board of Audit and Inspection’s ‘Self-Audit Activity Evaluation.’
Additionally, with remarkable capabilities in population, local economy, administration and finance, safety and health, and education and culture, Yeongdeungpo-gu was the only Seoul autonomous district to be named an ‘Excellent Autonomous District’ in the productivity index category of the ‘Local Government Productivity Evaluation.’ It also earned the highest grade ‘A’ in the ‘2024 Local Price Stability Management Evaluation’ in recognition of its efforts to stabilize local prices through public utility fee management and support for good-price businesses.
The district evaluated this year’s achievements as the result of dedicated efforts to solve local problems independently and to wipe away the sweat and tears of residents, thereby realizing true local autonomy. It announced plans to reinvest the prize money secured from this year’s accomplishments into policies that provide tangible benefits to residents, aiming to realize stronger and more sustainable welfare.
Yeongdeungpo District Mayor Choi Ho-kwon said, “The achievements of the past year are valuable results created together by residents and staff. Using this as a stepping stone, we will move forward with administration faithful to the basics for a ‘Young Yeongdeungpo.’ I will be a mayor who sows the seeds for Yeongdeungpo’s future and posterity, ensuring true local autonomy that residents can rely on and that supports them in times of difficulty.”
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