Six Local Government Heads of Sinbundang Line Deliver Joint Statement to Prime Minister Jeong Sye-gyun

Joint Response to Shinbundang Line Extension Proposed by Eunpyeong-gu and Six Local Government Heads (Eunpyeong, Jongno, Jung, Yongsan, Gangnam-gu, Goyang-si)

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Kim Mi-kyung, Mayor of Eunpyeong District, directly met with Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun to strongly request government-level promotion of the Shinbundang Line extension project.

On the afternoon of the 11th, Mayor Kim, along with Seong Seong-hyun, Mayor of Yongsan District, delivered a joint statement to Prime Minister Chung at the Government Seoul Office, emphasizing the necessity of the Shinbundang Line project, pointing out issues with the current preliminary feasibility study, and requesting early promotion of the Shinbundang Line by reflecting additional traffic demand omitted from large-scale regional development and new town development plans.

The joint statement delivered that day was agreed upon by the heads of basic local governments through which the Shinbundang Line extension will pass (Eunpyeong-gu, Jongno-gu, Jung-gu, Yongsan-gu, Gangnam-gu, Goyang-si).

The meeting was held as the heads of basic local governments united their intentions to alleviate the suffering of local residents experiencing traffic inconvenience due to delays in the Shinbundang Line project.

According to the statement, the northwestern metropolitan area is the center of new town and housing development policies in the metropolitan area, with densely concentrated populations in Eunpyeong New Town, Samsong and Jichuk districts, and the 3rd phase Changneung New Town. Despite explosive growth in traffic demand, the metropolitan transportation network is significantly insufficient, making traffic measures urgently necessary. However, the current preliminary feasibility study system, which deepens regional imbalance and fails to reflect additional traffic demand, is causing delays in the Shinbundang Line extension, and they requested improvements.

In particular, Eunpyeong-gu serves as a gateway entering Seoul from the outskirts. Bus usage has increased by 20% over the past decade, and subway Line 3 ridership has increased by 40% over 20 years, showing explosive growth in demand. However, metropolitan traffic improvement measures such as Eunpyeong Saegil are delayed, accelerating traffic congestion and causing extreme inconvenience to residents. They raised issues that new traffic demands related to Eunpyeong St. Mary's Hospital, the National Korean Literature Museum, the Northwestern Complex Sports Facilities (ice rink and inline roller rink), and the Hanok Village were not reflected in the existing preliminary feasibility study process, and requested a comprehensive reexamination of the preliminary feasibility study.

Kim Mi-kyung, Mayor of Eunpyeong District, stated, “We hope the government will actively cooperate with a policy approach considering balanced development of the metropolitan area so that citizens’ inconveniences can be resolved.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.