Mapo-gu Selected as the Safest District for Child and Women Violence Among Seoul's Autonomous Districts

[Seoul District News] Mapo-gu Recognized for Contributions Including Ordinance Amendment to Support Digital Sexual Violence Victims and Establishment of Priority Parking (BPA) Spaces; Only Seoul District Awarded Minister of Gender Equality and Family Commendation, Two Institutions Selected Nationwide... Dongdaemun-gu Receives Ministry of the Interior and Safety ‘Innovation Champion Plaque’... Kim Soo-young, Yangcheon-gu Mayor, Receives Appreciation Plaque from Seoul City Hall Labor Union... Geumcheon-gu Youth Counseling Welfare Center Youth Companion Awarded 2021 Seoul Mayor Commendation... Dongjak-gu Wins Korea Local Autonomy Innovation Award in Safety Innovation Category... Dobong-gu

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Mapo-gu (Mayor Yoo Dong-gyun) received the Minister of Gender Equality and Family Commendation in recognition of its contributions to preventing child and women violence and supporting victims, an award organized by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family.

This is the only award among Seoul's autonomous districts, and nationwide local governments selected include Mapo-gu and Wanju-gun in Jeollabuk-do.

The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family selected individuals and organizations who have worked hard on the ground to prevent child and women violence and support victims during the 2021 Women Violence Eradication Week (November 25 to December 1), and the commendation ceremony was held at 1:30 p.m. on the 25th.

Considering the increasing number of COVID-19 cases, the award ceremony was broadcast during the ‘Women Violence Eradication Week Online Video Commemoration Ceremony’.

The district was recognized for revising ordinances to protect and support victims of digital sexual violence, a growing social issue, and for establishing institutional measures to prevent violence, such as operating BPA (Baby caring person, Pregnant person, Aged person) considerate parking spaces that provide wider parking spots for vulnerable groups like pregnant women, the first of its kind nationwide, earning the Minister’s Commendation.

Additionally, through public-private cooperation, the district operates the ‘Safety Monitoring Team Everywhere’ to inspect women’s safety facilities, installs ‘Safe Screens in Public Restrooms’ to eradicate illegal filming, runs a ‘Citizen Illegal Filming Surveillance Team,’ and carries out various activities through a business agreement between Mapo-gu and Mapo Police Station, accelerating efforts to advance to the third stage of becoming a women-friendly city.

To raise awareness of gender sensitivity and various forms of violence among local residents, the district leads consciousness reform by conducting ‘Gender Sensitivity Education’ and ‘Visiting Violence Prevention Education’ aimed at preventing child and women violence.

Mayor Yoo Dong-gyun of Mapo-gu said, “This award was possible because of the employees who worked behind the scenes and the residents who participated in making Mapo-gu a women-friendly city. We will continue to work hard to develop policies that all children, women, and residents can feel.”

Dongdaemun-gu (Mayor Yoo Deok-yeol) announced that its ‘Large Waste SMART Disposal Operation System Construction’ project was selected as an excellent case of innovation improving residents’ lives by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety this year and received the Innovation Champion Plaque.

The Innovation Champion Plaque is awarded to local governments that spread innovative achievements to other local governments to enhance residents’ convenience. This year, out of 468 innovative cases, 34 local governments including Dongdaemun-gu were finally selected as recipients.

The awarded ‘Large Waste Smart Disposal Management Operation System Construction’ project eliminates the inconvenience of residents having to visit their local community service center or use a website to report large waste disposal. It provides a revolutionary service allowing any resident to report disposal anytime and anywhere via mobile without attaching a disposal certificate.

With the system, residents can easily use mobile devices to report waste disposal and check processing results, while the relevant department can use waste maps to monitor uncollected waste in real time and promptly collect large waste that had been left unattended for a long time.

Mayor Yoo Deok-yeol of Dongdaemun-gu said, “I hope the ‘Large Waste Smart Disposal Management Operation System’ developed to resolve residents’ inconvenience will spread nationwide and contribute to improving residents’ lives. We will continue to listen carefully to various voices and actively reflect them in policies to provide better administrative services to residents.”

Kim Soo-young, Mayor of Yangcheon-gu, announced that he received a plaque of appreciation from the Seoul City Hall Labor Union (Chairman Ahn Jae-hong) on the 22nd in recognition of his contribution to improving the rights and welfare of environmental public officials.

Yangcheon-gu revised related local ordinances in July to change the title ‘environmental cleaner,’ which had been uniformly designated by the government and used for over 30 years, to ‘environmental public official,’ the first case nationwide. This pioneering title change is evaluated as having boosted morale and further enhanced pride and a sense of mission among environmental public officials.

Moreover, despite unprecedented infectious disease situations, the district enacted the ‘Essential Workers Support Ordinance’ to ensure the safety and social protection of essential workers (including environmental public officials), prioritizing COVID-19 vaccination and sparing no support for improving their rights and welfare.

Along with the plaque presentation, the Yangcheon branch of the Seoul City Hall Labor Union (Branch Chief Moon Jae-chun) donated goods worth about 3 million won to help vulnerable groups at the end of the year, adding warmth to the occasion.

Mayor Kim Soo-young of Yangcheon-gu said, “I deeply thank all Yangcheon-gu environmental public officials who always work hard on the front lines to maintain a pleasant urban environment. We will do our best to make Yangcheon-gu a place where essential workers, including our environmental public officials, can work with pride.”

Geumcheon-gu (Mayor Yoo Sung-hoon) announced that Kwon Soon-heung, a youth companion (visiting professional counselor) at the Geumcheon-gu Youth Counseling Welfare Center, received the Seoul Mayor’s Commendation at the ‘2021 Crisis Youth Counseling Symposium and Seoul Metropolitan Youth Safety Network Reporting Conference’ held on the 24th.

At the awards ceremony, among 178 youth companions from 25 autonomous districts in Seoul, three counselors from Geumcheon-gu, Dobong-gu, and Songpa-gu centers were selected as outstanding youth companions and received the Seoul Mayor’s Commendation.

Selected awardee Kwon Soon-heung said, “Through genuine encounters with crisis youth, I was able to face their sincere desire for growth. I will always be by the youths’ side to help them grow properly.”

The youth companion program at Geumcheon-gu Youth Counseling Welfare Center operates for crisis (potential) youth aged 9 to 24. Counselors visit youths directly to build one-on-one relationships, provide emotional support, in-depth psychological counseling and testing, and connect them to community resources, contributing to healthy youth development and protection.

Mayor Yoo Sung-hoon of Geumcheon-gu said, “We will continue to provide tailored services to youths facing crises such as depression, school violence, and internet addiction, striving to ensure local youths can grow safely at home, school, and society.”

Gangseo-gu, Seoul (Mayor Noh Hyun-song) once again demonstrated top-level financial management capabilities.

The district announced that it was selected as an ‘Excellent Local Government’ in the 2021 (Fiscal Year 2020) Local Government Financial Analysis conducted by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety.

This achievement marks four consecutive years of excellent results following ‘Best’ in 2018, ‘Excellent’ in 2019, and ‘Best Local Government’ in 2020.

The local financial analysis is a representative local finance monitoring system that comprehensively analyzes and evaluates the financial status and operational performance of local governments based on the previous year’s settlement data.

The evaluation was conducted on 243 local governments nationwide based on 13 major financial indicators across three areas: four indicators of financial soundness, six indicators of financial efficiency, and three indicators of financial planning.

Gangseo-gu was selected as an excellent institution by receiving the highest grade ‘Grade A’ in the financial planning area and will receive a special grant as an incentive.

In particular, the district achieved this result by scoring high in detailed indicators of financial planning such as the mid-term financial plan reflection rate, tax revenue error rate, and carryover/unspent amount ratio.

The district lowered the mid-term financial plan reflection error rate and carefully predicted revenue budgets to reduce tax revenue errors, improving budget planning accuracy.

Also, through expenditure restructuring, the district adjusted project budgets expected to be carried over or unspent to projects that could be executed within the year and actively promoted them, earning favorable evaluations.

Mayor Noh Hyun-song said, “This is the result of meticulously preparing and actively executing the district budget despite difficulties caused by the spread of COVID-19. We will continue to eliminate budget waste and enhance financial management efficiency to carefully manage the district’s finances.”

Dongjak-gu (Mayor Lee Chang-woo) announced on the 25th that it won the ‘Grand Prize’ in the Safety Innovation category at the ‘2021 Korea Local Autonomy Innovation Awards’ sponsored by the National Association of Mayors, County Governors, and District Heads and the National Assembly’s Public Administration and Security Committee.

The Korea Local Autonomy Innovation Awards, held to mark the 30th anniversary of the local autonomy system, recognize local governments that have achieved outstanding results in regional development in response to rapidly changing domestic and international environments across 11 categories. Dongjak-gu’s ‘Zero Child Traffic Accidents, Smart Pedestrian Road Construction Project’ received the highest evaluation among basic local governments nationwide in the safety innovation category.

The ‘Smart Pedestrian Road Construction’ is a special measure to prevent frequent child traffic accidents in the district, implemented in stages from 2019 to the end of 2020 to improve school routes around elementary schools. The stages were pilot (Phase 1) → expansion (Phase 2) → advancement (Phase 3).

In the pilot phase, residents participated throughout the entire process from problem identification to service application, centered on the ‘Dodam Dodam School Road Research Institute,’ a resident council near Daerim Elementary School in Daebang-dong, establishing smart crosswalks at optimal locations.

Notably, the ‘Smart Display’ that informs pedestrian approach and vehicle speed and the ‘Smart Intersection Notifier’ that signals vehicle entry status received great responses from residents.

In the expansion phase, eight additional elementary schools were selected through demand surveys, and services that received good evaluations in the pilot phase were selected, supplemented, and the school route improvement project was promoted.

The final advancement phase targeted the school route of Namsa Elementary School in Sadang-dong, which has the longest commuting distance in the district, building customized solutions distinguishing between busy main roads and side streets.

On main roads, dynamic smart crosswalk services such as ‘ground traffic lights’ to prevent accidents involving ‘smombies’ (smartphone + zombies) were installed, and on residential side streets, smart safety complex solutions like ‘intersection notifiers’ alerting vehicle approach were completed.

As a result, vehicle speeds during school commute times around major elementary schools decreased by an average of 10%, and vehicle entry volume dropped by about 40%. (Professor Park Byung-jung’s team from Myongji University Department of Traffic Engineering: Analysis of video footage at four smart facility sites, Nov-Dec 2019)

Mayor Lee Chang-woo said, “I am very pleased that our district’s Smart Pedestrian Road Construction Project, which solved child traffic safety issues through public-private cooperation reflecting residents’ opinions, has been recognized for its value at the Local Autonomy Innovation Awards. We will continue to do our best to prepare innovative policies combining resident safety and IT technology.”

Dobong-gu (Mayor Lee Dong-jin) held a plaque unveiling ceremony for the Green Building Certification (highest grade) of the Dooly Museum on the 23rd at the museum. The event was made more meaningful by the participation of Dobong-gu and Dooly Museum officials as well as children from the nearby Ssangmun 1-dong daycare center.

The Green Building Certification system, organized by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Ministry of Environment, grants eco-friendly building certification to buildings that contribute to energy saving and reducing environmental pollution. Certification is based on scores in seven specialized areas: land use and transportation, energy and environmental pollution, materials and resources, water circulation management, maintenance, ecological environment, and indoor environment. Four grades are awarded: highest (Green Grade 1), excellent (Green Grade 2), good (Green Grade 3), and general (Green Grade 4).

The Dooly Museum received the highest grade Green Building Certification in May 2015. Although the five-year validity expired in May 2020, the Green Building Certification Rules were revised in April this year, allowing validity extension through re-examination. Accordingly, the museum submitted an extension application in September and was re-certified with the highest grade on November 11, 2021.

This extension of the highest grade Green Building Certification validity period for the Dooly Museum is the second case nationwide and the first in the metropolitan area.

Mayor Lee Dong-jin of Dobong-gu said, “I am very pleased that the Dooly Museum, a public museum for children, has extended the validity of its highest grade Green Building Certification. We will continue to strive to maintain the museum as a sustainable eco-friendly building where residents and children can safely enjoy.”

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