Gyeongju City Transforms 'In Front of Gyeongju Station' into Pedestrian-Friendly Street Amid Street Vendor Proliferation

March Groundbreaking, April Completion... 48 Stalls Installed in Place of Street Vendors, Securing Pedestrian Space

Current view of Hwarang-ro, Gyeongju City (left) and expected view after the completion of the improvement project.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Park Dong-wook] Hwarang-ro in front of Gyeongju Station, Gyeongbuk, where street vendors have proliferated uncontrollably for over 50 years, is being transformed into a pedestrian-friendly street that is easy to walk.

According to Gyeongju City on the 31st, a pedestrian environment improvement project will begin in March for a 120m section of Hwarang-ro in front of Gyeongju Station (from Haedong Pharmacy to Kyobo Life Insurance), with a city budget of 400 million KRW. The construction is expected to be completed by the end of April.

Instead of removing the existing street vendors, the city plans to standardize the stalls to simultaneously secure citizens' right to walk and the vendors' right to livelihood, according to Gyeongju City's explanation.

The area around Hwarang-ro in front of Gyeongju Station has been a representative dense street vendor area in Gyeongju, with up to 200 unauthorized street vendors operating for 50 years, causing continuous complaints from residents. Accordingly, since January last year, Gyeongju City has launched a street vendor maintenance project under the motto of 'street vendor occupancy permit system' and 'installation of standardized stalls.'

In particular, regarding the biggest challenge of the project, the imposition of road occupancy fees, a dramatic agreement was reached with the street vendors' association. The city plans to place 48 standardized stalls in the area where the street vendors were organized and renovate it into a pedestrian-friendly street.

The stall specifications are unified as 2m length by 2m width on the road side, and 2m length by 1.3m width on the store side. Considering that the width of the Hwarang-ro sidewalk is 6m, the effective pedestrian passage width in the area is expected to increase by at least 2m.

Mayor Joo Nak-young of Gyeongju said, "The Hwarang-ro sidewalk street vendor maintenance project is a project to simultaneously secure citizens' right to walk and street vendors' right to livelihood," and added, "We ask for the understanding and cooperation of nearby merchants and residents even if there is some inconvenience during the project period."

Meanwhile, there are more than 500 street vendors operating in downtown Gyeongju and historic sites. Gyeongju City plans to review the possibility of additional projects targeting places where road occupancy permits are possible.

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