Proactive Preparation for 'Climate Crisis Response'... Operation of the 'Seoul Citizens' Assembly'

First Half of the Year 'Climate Crisis Response'... 1,000 Citizens, Experts, and Public Officials Engage in Online and Offline Deliberations

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on the 14th that it will operate the ‘Seoul Citizens' Assembly,’ a new type of policy deliberation forum where citizens participate with the agenda of ‘responding to the climate crisis,’ following last year. The ‘Seoul Citizens' Assembly’ is a new model of civic democracy introduced and operated since 2020, where citizens not only participate at the level of public opinion but also lead proposals, deliberations, and public discussions to decide policies by themselves.

The ‘Seoul Citizens' Assembly’ deliberates and discusses online and offline on issues that have become key topics or social concerns of the year, deriving detailed policies by sector. It involves 1,000 Seoul citizens without gender or age restrictions, sector experts, and Seoul city officials.

Seoul conducts preliminary surveys to collect citizens' opinions on public agenda items so that citizens can participate from the agenda selection process of the ‘Seoul Citizens' Assembly.’ After consultations with relevant Seoul city departments and experts, issues that significantly impact citizens' lives are selected as agenda items.

This year, Seoul has set the agenda for the first half of the year as ‘responding to the climate crisis,’ aiming to focus the capabilities of local communities and civil society on this global issue and solve social problems through citizen-led initiatives.

Accordingly, Seoul is publicly recruiting citizens to participate in the ‘2021 Seoul Citizens' Assembly’ until the 15th of next month. Any Seoul citizen interested in Seoul city policies can participate regardless of age.

The finally selected citizens will be appointed as citizen committee members of the ‘Seoul Citizens' Assembly’ and participate in topic-specific meetings and the citizens' general assembly to deliberate and decide on major policies. Considering the COVID-19 situation, Seoul will minimize the number of participants attending on-site discussions.

Oh Kwan-young, Chairperson of the Seoul Democracy Commission, said, “Voluntary citizen participation in various fields while upholding democratic values is the power that can change our society and the driving force to realize democracy.” He added, “Through the ‘Seoul Citizens' Assembly,’ which implements Seoul-style democracy by having citizens lead the proposal, deliberation, and decision-making processes, we will find solutions to everyday problems that the administration has not yet discovered through collective citizen intelligence.”

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