Eunpyeong-gu Issues 'Integrity Alert' to Establish Public Official Discipline During Election Season

[Seoul District News] Eunpyeong-gu Strictly Enforces Political Neutrality for Election Season, Presents Strict Conduct Standards for Public Officials Including Compliance with the Anti-Graft Act and Public Officials' Code of Conduct... Incidence Rate 7 Times Higher Than in Autumn... Dongdaemun-gu Conducts Construction Sector Training on the Serious Accidents Punishment Act... Nowon-gu Focuses on Spring Wildfire Prevention

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Eunpyeong-gu (Mayor Kim Mi-kyung) has issued a "Cleanliness Alert" to establish public service discipline in preparation for the election season.

The district frequently issues cleanliness alerts during vulnerable periods such as holidays, vacation seasons, and election seasons to prevent public service discipline from becoming lax due to the prevailing atmosphere, thereby establishing a sense of integrity among its public officials.

This alert, the second issued this year following the Lunar New Year holiday, is a measure to strictly establish public service discipline in preparation for the election season.

The main points include "strict obligation of political neutrality" and "compliance with the Anti-Graft Act and the Code of Conduct for Public Officials." Special inspections will also be conducted to prevent violations related to election laws, the Anti-Graft Act, and service regulations.

The district will also conduct inspections on service discipline and plans to actively ensure that the public service community faithfully fulfills its integrity obligations.

An official from Eunpyeong-gu stated, "We expect that continuous issuance of cleanliness alerts will help create a culture of integrity led by the public service community," adding, "We will also steadily promote anti-corruption policies to implement an administration trusted by residents."

Dongdaemun-gu (Mayor Yoo Deok-yeol) conducted training for employees from four departments related to construction and other interested staff to prevent major accidents in the construction sector.

The training on the Act on the Punishment of Serious Accidents in the construction field, held on February 28, was organized to help employees in construction-related departments understand the law and improve awareness of accident prevention in line with the law’s enforcement.

Employees from the Construction Division, Housing Maintenance Division, Sustainable City Division, and Housing Division, as well as interested staff, participated. Park Cheon-sik, a construction safety advisory committee member from Seoul Metropolitan Government, served as the instructor, delivering valuable content on the background and purpose of the law’s enforcement through major accident cases, the role of autonomous districts following the law’s enforcement, and the impact of safety and health on companies.

Starting with this training, the district plans to actively support education and promotion to improve accident prevention awareness not only among employees but also among construction site personnel during construction-related tasks. The ordering departments will also organize safety management costs and conduct risk assessments as stipulated by the Industrial Safety and Health Act and related laws when ordering construction work and services.

Yoo Deok-yeol, Mayor of Dongdaemun-gu, said, "We conducted training to strengthen safety awareness and prevent major accidents in the construction sector, where the risk of safety accidents is relatively high," adding, "Since safety accidents at construction sites and buildings are directly related to residents’ safety, we will thoroughly manage to prevent major accidents this year as well."

Nowon-gu (Mayor Oh Seung-rok) announced that it will strengthen its wildfire prevention system as the number of visitors to major hiking trails such as Bulamsan, Suraksan, Choansan, and Yeongchuksan increases with the arrival of spring.

Spring is a season with rising temperatures and insufficient rainfall, resulting in dry air and a high risk of wildfires. Over the past 10 years, the occurrence of wildfires in Seoul shows that 88% happened in spring and 13% in autumn, making the spring wildfire rate about seven times higher than in autumn.

According to the district, Nowon-gu’s forest area totals 15,455 hectares, including national, communal, and private forests. In the past five years, eight wildfires occurred, damaging 2.5 hectares. Since wildfires occur more than once a year, special caution is required during the spring wildfire season.

The district has designated the period until May 31 as the "Wildfire Prevention Period" and is making every effort to prevent wildfires.

Accordingly, a wildfire prevention task force headed by the district mayor has been formed, with a rotating emergency duty team of 4 to 5 members per day maintaining an emergency system.

Employee response manuals and emergency contact networks have been prepared for small, medium, and large wildfires to enable quick and accurate initial response.

Patrol and prevention activities are also being strengthened. During the day, patrols focus on wildfire-prone areas designated by the National Institute of Forest Science and side paths, while at night, patrols concentrate around major hiking trails such as Suraksan and Bulamsan.

First, wildfire monitoring teams are organized into groups of four members each, operating two teams on weekdays and three teams on weekends and nights. The newly established Volunteer Disaster Prevention Corps (total 366 members) operates with four members per team, focusing on vulnerable areas in 19 neighborhoods within the district. Cooperation with Nowon Fire Station’s volunteer fire brigade is being strengthened, and weekend wildfire prevention campaigns are also underway.

Alongside promoting proper hiking rules to prevent fires caused by cigarette butts among hikers, wildfire prevention banners and wildfire monitoring black boxes are installed at major trail entrances. Additionally, to encourage reporting and raise wildfire awareness, the district actively promotes a reward system for reporting wildfire offenders.

Furthermore, 31 wildfire monitoring black boxes are being re-inspected, and 17 wildfire firefighting equipment storage boxes located in the forest are inspected quarterly. Equipment such as backpack pumps and wildfire vests necessary for wildfire suppression have been maintained and replaced.

Meanwhile, on February 24 at around 2 p.m., a fire of unknown cause occurred near Bulamsan, but quick cooperation between the district office and fire station enabled successful extinguishing within two hours.

Oh Seung-rok, Mayor of Nowon-gu, said, "Due to dry air, small sparks can lead to large wildfires in spring, so we ask residents to actively participate in wildfire prevention," adding, "We will devote all efforts to wildfire prevention and ensure rapid initial response in case of wildfire occurrence."

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