[Interview] Park Junhee, Gwanak-gu Mayor, "Full Effort to Create a City Safe for Women"

In the 2nd Year of Being Selected as a Women-Friendly City, Establishing Dense Infrastructure Such as Safe Alleys and Women’s Safe Return Paths... Completion of the ‘Smart City Planning Consulting Support Project for the Safety of Single-Person Household Women’... 19.1 Billion KRW Investment by 2025, a 5-Year Plan to Create a Safe City Gwanak Where Residents Can Live Securely

[Asia Economy Reporter Jong-il Park] “When opening the door to enter home, receiving delivery food, or walking alone in alleyways, women living alone can live comfortably in every aspect of daily life as Gwanak under the 7th local government term is smartly transforming.”

Park Jun-hee, Mayor of Gwanak District, expressed this expectation in an interview with this publication, marking the second year since Gwanak was selected as a women-friendly city.

Gwanak District was designated as a “Women-Friendly City” by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family in 2019 and has been implementing various women-friendly city projects aimed at empowering women, providing care, and ensuring safety.

In particular, the district is focusing on women’s safety by implementing various safety policy projects for women.

The district is responsible for women’s safety through 22 Safe Alleyways and 21 Women’s Safe Return Paths. Dark alleys are equipped with CCTV and LED signboards to make them easily visible at night, and various safety facilities such as emergency bells connected to the integrated control center and 112 emergency call are installed.

To eradicate digital sex crimes, Gwanak is the first nationwide to support a rental service for illegal filming camera self-inspection equipment. Additionally, the district is accelerating smart safety projects utilizing 4th Industrial Revolution technologies such as AI and IoT, installing and operating smart safety lighting around Sillim Station, a dense area of one-room apartments, and conducting the nation’s first GPS-equipped wandering detection device support project to prevent missing cases of women with developmental disabilities.

Near residential areas, devices such as “Bitteo,” which detects passersby and shines light while emitting warning sounds, “Bitdeung,” which serves as night lighting and safety warning notification, and “Bitbel,” a night light indicating the location of emergency bells, have been installed.

Also, stores operated by single women are equipped with safety bells connected to the control center, serving as a reassuring security guard. Mayor Park Jun-hee stated, “We will not limit ourselves to hardware-focused approaches centered on facilities but will also make efforts in software approaches by expanding the ‘Our Neighborhood Women’s Safety Roundtable’ to all neighborhoods to strengthen networks among single-person households in the community and operate safety capacity-building programs.”

The district was the first in Seoul to create a “Women Single-Person Household Safety Village” and achieved recognition as an excellent project for women single-person household safety villages by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family. This was the result of active discovery and efforts in Gwanak-type women’s safety projects based on local characteristics through communication with residents.

Especially in February of this year, to prevent women’s crimes and enable rapid response, the district completed the “Single-Person Household Women’s Safety Smart City Planning Consulting Support Project,” utilizing new technologies such as artificial intelligence and big data, accelerating the creation of a women’s safety smart city.

Furthermore, the district established a five-year plan last year to create a safe city Gwanak where all residents, including vulnerable groups such as women and the elderly, can live without anxiety from crime, accident risks, and all other sources of insecurity.

By 2025, with an investment of 19.1 billion KRW, the district plans to build a dense crime prevention environment where all residents can live safely from crime and realize a safe urban space where anyone can live with peace of mind. Mayor Park Jun-hee expressed, “This year, the second year since the designation as a women-friendly city, we will actively discover Gwanak-type women’s safety projects based on local characteristics and residents’ needs through full-scale promotion of women-friendly city projects and create an excellent model of a women’s safety city. Beyond women, we will build a smart city Gwanak where all residents can live safely and happily every day.”

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