[Interview] Moon Seok-jin, Seodaemun District Mayor, "We Will Take Proactive Measures to Overcome the COVID-19 Crisis"

Creating a Safe and Livable City Responsible for Health and Welfare... Leading Smart Digital City Development... Building a Sustainable Green City for Human and Earth Coexistence... Overcoming COVID-19 Crisis, Establishing a Hopeful City with Employment Security... Strengthening Resident-Led Collaborative Governance

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] “To prepare for the accelerated Fourth Industrial Revolution era due to COVID-19, we opened the Convergence Talent Education Center and ensured that no care gaps occur through emergency childcare and non-face-to-face care projects.”

Seodaemun-gu Mayor Moon Seok-jin stated in an interview, “It is urgent to swiftly respond to the rapid transition to non-face-to-face platforms in all fields such as industry, jobs, and education, and to establish and implement measures for the coexistence of humans and nature,” adding, “In the new year, we will carry out district administration with the goal of overcoming the COVID-19 crisis and proactively preparing for the new era.”

First, Mayor Moon emphasized, “Health and welfare are inseparable amid the pandemic situation that dealt a fatal blow to socially vulnerable groups and small business owners,” and said, “We will create a safe city where health and welfare are guaranteed.” To this end, he announced plans to install Care SOS Centers in all 14 community service centers to expand customized care services, promote the COVID Zero Safe Care project to support quarantine in care facilities, and provide integrated non-face-to-face health services suitable for the post-COVID era. He also mentioned plans to create a smart digital leading city prepared for the non-face-to-face era by supporting digital tutors and smart boards in elementary, middle, and high schools, and conducting customized talent development education for the Fourth Industrial Revolution era through the Seodaemun Convergence Talent Education Center. Furthermore, he said they will establish a district library system that allows the use of digital content and the Seodaemun Kid Center, build a video civil service response system to handle on-site civil complaints non-face-to-face, and prepare platforms that can broadcast cultural and artistic performances or operate non-face-to-face art programs.

Mayor Moon further explained the plan to create a sustainable green city aimed at the coexistence of people and the planet, stating that responding to the climate crisis is an urgent task that can no longer be postponed from the perspective of sustainable development, as the government has declared carbon neutrality by 2050. To this end, he said the district office will prioritize creating a carbon-zero government building through energy efficiency diagnosis and expansion of green infrastructure, pilot operation of energy management systems in public buildings, conversion of village buses to electric vehicles, and expansion of electric vehicle charging stations. He also mentioned applying green remodeling to senior centers, health centers, and daycare centers, and installing green environmental facilities such as LED lighting and solar power panels in local traditional markets.

Mayor Moon stated that protecting livelihoods along with saving lives from infectious diseases is equally important, and overcoming COVID-19 is no different from overcoming an economic crisis. He introduced the new year’s vision for creating a “COVID-19 Crisis Overcoming, Employment Safety Hope City.” Specifically, he said they will actively promote the “smartification of traditional markets” by linking traditional markets to online markets and delivery platforms and supporting the establishment of smart infrastructure in stores to dramatically improve resident accessibility. He also mentioned sharing the pain of small business owners and doing their best to maintain income through rapid disaster relief payments.

In particular, to create a city without layoffs in Seodaemun-gu, he said they will support part of the leave allowance corresponding to the employer’s burden for businesses maintaining employment through employment retention support funds, and pursue a two-track approach of “employment support,” including the digital tutor project, and “startup support,” such as building the Sinchon Venture Valley Social Startup Center, to create synergy effects that increase youth jobs. Mayor Moon Seok-jin emphasized, “Resident autonomy and public-private cooperation are the roots of decentralized autonomy,” adding, “In the new year, we will operate resident autonomy committees in all 14 neighborhoods substantively and promote the ‘Local Lab,’ a problem-solving experiment room for our neighborhoods, to firmly establish a resident-led cooperative city.”

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