Mayor Choi Opens Daerim-dong Cleaning Site Situation Room on the Afternoon of the 6th... Called the "Cleaning Mayor," Cleaning Director Kim Su-jin Leads Daily On-Site Work with Residents, Expecting Holiday Alley Trash to Disappear
Choi Ho-gwon, the mayor of Yeongdeungpo District, is drawing attention with an astonishing attempt in 2025.
Specifically, he has established an on-site cleaning situation room in Daerim 1, 2, and 3-dong of Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, where about 25,000 Chinese nationals and ethnic Koreans from China reside.
As Yeongdeungpo-gu is home to the highest percentage of multicultural families in Seoul, with 13.5% of residents belonging to such families, this area is a representative place where Chinese nationals and ethnic Koreans from China live in South Korea. The new initiative aims to completely transform the environment here.
On the afternoon of the 6th at 2 PM, Mayor Choi opened the ‘Cleaning On-site Situation Room’ at the customer rest area of Daerim Central Market to improve the street environment of Daerim-dong, which has been suffering from illegal dumping, and to strengthen on-site response.
In particular, as of the end of September 2024, foreigners make up 52% of the population in Daerim 2-dong. Daerim-dong is lined with Chinese restaurants and manpower agencies, and due to the large number of short-term foreign residents and floating population, illegal dumping has become a serious problem.
Accordingly, the district opened the ‘Cleaning On-site Situation Room’ at the customer rest area of Daerim Central Market to pursue cleaning innovation throughout Daerim-dong.
This is based on the judgment that strengthening resident participation and on-site response is crucial to creating a clean street environment.
At the ‘Cleaning On-site Situation Room,’ which serves as the hub for cleaning administration in Daerim-dong, the Cleaning Department and the resident centers of Daerim 1, 2, and 3-dong jointly carry out ▲urgent handling of waste-related complaints ▲patrols of habitual illegal dumping sites ▲crackdowns on illegal dumping ▲promotion of proper waste disposal methods.
At the opening ceremony, about 80 people, including Mayor Choi Ho-gwon, representatives of the merchants' association, and residents of Daerim-dong, participated. Afterwards, they moved to Daerim Central Market to conduct cleaning and promotional activities.
A resident who attended the opening ceremony said, “Foreigners are not accustomed to separating waste due to cultural and institutional differences, so they have difficulties disposing of trash properly. Starting with the opening of the Cleaning On-site Situation Room, we will create a culture in Daerim-dong where all residents, including foreigners, cultivate a clean environment.”
Choi Ho-gwon, mayor of Yeongdeungpo District, stated, “Through the opening of the ‘Cleaning On-site Situation Room,’ the first step in ‘Daedongdan-gyeol’ (keeping Daerim-dong neat and clean), all residents will work together to create a clean living culture. We will continue to strengthen on-site cleaning administration and resident participation to make Yeongdeungpo a clean, pleasant, safe, and comfortable neighborhood.”
In particular, Mayor Choi referred to Kim Su-jin, head of the Yeongdeungpo District Cleaning Department, as the “Cleaning Mayor” and said, “Director Choi will come to this place every day and work with residents to keep the neighborhood clean.”
On the afternoon of the 6th, Kim Su-jin, head of the Cleaning Department, explained, “Starting tomorrow, I will come to the cleaning on-site office every day. In January, I will devote most of my time to promoting the Daedongdan-gyeol (keeping Daerim-dong neat and clean!) project.”
She added, “To this end, I plan to visit shops and real estate offices directly to promote Daedongdan-gyeol and encourage participation. I will also crack down on illegal dumping of trash and cigarette butts, issue work orders to immediately clean streets piled with garbage, and work with residents to keep Daerim-dong clean with my utmost effort.”
The person at the very front on the left is Kim Sujin, Head of the Cleaning Department, Yeongdeungpo District.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
