Seoul Jung-gu, Illegal Advertisements Around Schools Cleaned Up

By the 19th, selected provocative content attachments and pedestrian-obstructing signboards will be organized to create safe school routes for students

[Asia Economy Reporter Jong-il Park] Jung-gu, Seoul (Mayor Seoyangho) is conducting a comprehensive cleanup of illegal advertisements around schools until the 19th of this month to mark the start of the new semester.

This is to create a pleasant and safe route for students, who have been exhausted by remote online classes due to COVID-19, to meet new friends and teachers at school and enjoy their time as the new semester begins.

To this end, a special cleanup team consisting of 12 employees from the Street Environment and Advertisement Team has been formed.

The cleanup target areas include 48 schools in the district: 14 kindergartens, 12 elementary schools, 9 middle schools, and 13 high schools.

In particular, the focus will be on child protection zones within 300 meters of the main entrances of elementary schools and school environment sanitation zones within 200 meters of school boundaries. Even areas outside these zones where students are exposed to unsafe or harmful environments during their commute are included in the cleanup scope.

The targets for cleanup are advertisements such as flyers or business cards that promote inappropriate telephone services or contain obscene, decadent, or sensational content. Illegal banners, signboards, and other advertisements that obstruct pedestrian traffic on roads or sidewalks are also subject to removal.

Additionally, fixed advertisements that are illegally installed, damage the cityscape, or are old and neglected with risks of damage or falling causing safety hazards will be a focus of the cleanup.

Jung-gu will immediately collect illegal mobile advertisements, and for illegal fixed advertisements, it will encourage voluntary cleanup by store owners or advertisers. If compliance is not achieved, strong administrative measures such as imposing fines and filing complaints will be taken.

Furthermore, joint campaigns to eradicate illegal advertisements will be conducted in cooperation with the Jung-gu branch of the Outdoor Advertising Association.

Meanwhile, since May last year, Jung-gu has been vigorously promoting the 'Illegal Banner Zero Jung-gu' policy, which has resulted in a remarkable 70% reduction in illegal banners in the area.

Mayor Seoyangho of Jung-gu said, "We will devote all our efforts to creating a pleasant walking environment where Jung-gu students can commute comfortably to and from school."

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