[Photo] Oh Seung-rok, Nowon District Mayor, Requests Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to Ease Reconstruction Safety Inspection Standards

[Seoul District Photo News] Nowon-gu Mayor Oh Seung-rok meets with Yangcheon's Kim Soo-young, Songpa-gu Mayor Park Sung-soo, and Land Minister Noh Hyung-wook to propose easing reconstruction safety inspection standards... Eunpyeong-gu wins 'Presidential Award' for National Library Operation Evaluation two years in a row

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Nowon-gu (Mayor Oh Seung-rok) attended the ‘Seoul Autonomous Districts (Nowon, Yangcheon, Songpa) - Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Policy Cooperation Meeting’ on the 13th and proposed to Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Noh Hyung-wook to relax the standards for reconstruction safety inspections.

At the meeting, Mayor Oh Seung-rok of Nowon-gu stated that since the Taereung Woosung Apartment, which was progressing the fastest among reconstruction projects, was finally rejected in the feasibility review last July, dissatisfaction and anxiety among residents of other reconstruction complexes have been rising.

The proposals mainly consist of three points. First, improving quality of life. Although the purpose of apartment reconstruction includes not only structural safety but also providing residents with a comfortable living environment, current regulations fail to reflect situations where residents’ quality of life has significantly deteriorated due to parking difficulties and aging facilities such as water pipes.

They also requested improvements to the current safety inspection procedures. If a reconstruction project fails to receive a safety inspection approval, the entire procedure must be restarted from the safety inspection request stage.

This causes residents to bear additional safety inspection costs. Therefore, the district suggests either re-conducting or supplementing the safety inspection based on the already conducted inspection to ensure efficient use of costs.

Lastly, to secure fairness and objectivity, they requested consideration of separating the current advisory committee (subcommittee) into an independent organization and composing it with external personnel.

Mayor Oh Seung-rok said, “Changes in reconstruction safety inspection standards are infringing on residents’ right to happy housing,” and added, “Apartment reconstruction should be promoted in a reasonable direction to improve residents’ quality of life.”

Eunpyeong-gu (Mayor Kim Mi-kyung) won both the ‘Presidential Award’ and the ‘Ministerial Award’ at the ‘2021 National Library Operation Evaluation’ ceremony held at the National Library of Korea on the 13th. This marks the second consecutive year winning the ‘Presidential Award’.

On this day, the district announced that the Eunpyeong District Library received the ‘Presidential Award,’ while Naereul Geonneoseo Supro Library and the Sangnim District Library were each selected for the ‘Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Award.’

The national library operation evaluation is conducted annually by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Presidential Library Information Policy Committee to promote balanced growth and development of libraries nationwide. This year, evaluations were conducted on a total of 2,242 libraries, including 1,134 public libraries, as well as school, specialized, military, and prison libraries.

The Eunpyeong District Library, which ranked first in the national public library evaluation category, was recognized for reducing the knowledge and information gap by expanding services for vulnerable groups, such as building a customized online book recommendation platform adapted to the changed environment due to COVID-19 and improving library infrastructure for the disabled.

In particular, it received high praise for projects aimed at vulnerable groups in knowledge and information, including establishing wireless internet throughout the entire library, building an online book curation platform, creating dedicated spaces for the disabled, and providing courier lending services for disabled users.

Kim Mi-kyung, Mayor of Eunpyeong-gu, said, “Eunpyeong-gu has focused on nurturing public libraries to promote residents’ reading culture. As a result, we have achieved the honor of winning the Presidential Award for two consecutive years along with the Ministerial Award in this national library operation evaluation. I believe the Eunpyeong District Library has produced excellent results by expanding inclusive services reflecting social trends and operating various user-tailored cultural programs,” and added, “We will continue to lead efforts to support library operations and expand infrastructure to establish Eunpyeong-gu as a city of reading culture.”

On the morning of the 13th, Cha Hyeon-il, Mayor of Yeongdeungpo-gu, congratulated the recipients of the Model Citizen Commendation at the annex of the district office.

The district actively discovers and honors citizens and organizations who have contributed to community harmony and local development by promoting the Model Citizen Commendation.

On this day, Mayor Cha awarded certificates of commendation to eight recipients of the October Model Citizen Commendation and said, “I sincerely thank the citizens who practice exceptional neighborly love and work tirelessly in both material and spiritual ways for the development of the district.”

Geumcheon-gu (Mayor Yoo Seong-hoon) held the ‘Drawing a Brilliant Welfare World’ ceremony in celebration of the Day of Persons with Disabilities at Geumnarae Art Hall at 4 p.m. on the 12th.

Geumcheon-gu has annually held a festival named ‘Drawing a Brilliant Welfare World’ to commemorate the Day of Persons with Disabilities. Originally scheduled for April, this year’s event was simplified and held online to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

At the ceremony, commendations were given to those who contributed to the promotion of welfare for persons with disabilities, and awards were presented for the drawing contest aimed at improving awareness of disabilities.

Yoo Seong-hoon, Mayor of Geumcheon-gu, said, “I thank the award recipients attending today’s ceremony, welfare facilities and organizations for persons with disabilities, and everyone participating online,” and added, “We will do our best to create a ‘warm city Geumcheon’ where persons with and without disabilities live happily together.”

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