Mayor Baek Gyeong-hyun Expresses Strong Regret, Urges Withdrawal of Gyeonggi-do GH Relocation Suspension...

Baek Kyunghyun, Mayor of Guri, Expresses Strong Regret Over Gyeonggi Province's Announcement to Halt GH Relocation
Gyeonggi Province Halts GH Relocation Procedures... Causing Conflict Among Residents and Local Governments
Mayor Baek Urges Immediate Withdrawal of GH Relocation Suspension

Baek Kyung-hyun, mayor of Guri City, held a press conference on the city's current issues on the 20th at the Guri City Women’s Happiness Center conference room and expressed strong regret over Gyeonggi Province's announcement on February 21 to halt the relocation process of the Gyeonggi Housing & Urban Corporation (GH) to Guri City.

On the 20th, Baek Kyung-hyun, mayor of Guri City, held a press conference urging the resumption of the GH relocation process.

Mayor Baek stated, "The unilateral announcement to suspend administrative procedures regarding GH's relocation to Guri City, which has been progressing smoothly under the agreement among Gyeonggi Province, Guri City, and GH, without any consultation with the parties involved in the agreement, is an excessive move."

Furthermore, he strongly urged Gyeonggi Province to comply with the agreement concerning GH's relocation to Guri City and to promptly resume the halted procedures so that GH can relocate to Guri City as soon as possible.

Mayor Baek explained that the opinion on Guri City's incorporation into Seoul has been advocated across political parties since 2006, and recently, citizen-led discussions on Seoul incorporation have been underway. In fact, the ‘Guri Becoming Seoul Pan-Citizen Promotion Committee,’ established in February 2024 and led by the private sector, is currently active in Guri City.

He also clarified that in a public opinion survey conducted in July of the same year to gauge citizens' responses to Seoul incorporation, 66.9% of respondents supported the incorporation. Therefore, Guri City is only pursuing a research project to objectively analyze the facts regarding Seoul incorporation with the city council’s budget approval.

Regarding Gyeonggi Province’s claim that Seoul incorporation and GH relocation cannot proceed simultaneously, Mayor Baek said that discussions on Seoul incorporation were ongoing in Guri City even when Gyeonggi Province announced last year that it would proceed with GH’s relocation as promised, and civic groups were also actively engaged, so this cannot be a reason to halt the project.

He added that there is suspicion that Gyeonggi Province is using the issue of public institution relocation as a tool to justify opposition to public institution relocations continuously demanded in the southern Gyeonggi region by turning it into a political dispute. He urged not to use ‘Seoul incorporation’ and ‘GH attraction’ as tools for political strife that cause division among residents and conflicts between local governments.

Mayor Baek Kyung-hyun requested, “To restore the trust in administration that Gyeonggi Province has undermined itself, it is the way to regain credibility as a metropolitan local government to comply with the agreement on GH’s relocation to Guri City and promptly resume the halted procedures to complete GH’s relocation as soon as possible,” and called for the immediate withdrawal of the suspension of GH’s relocation procedures.