[Interview] Kim Seon-gap, Mayor of Gwangjin-gu, "Focusing on Resident-Centered Projects at the Core of District Administration"

Gwangjin-gu Discovered a Total of 158 New Projects Last Year, Including 50 Resident-Centered Initiatives... High Satisfaction with ▲Gwangjin Mom Taxi ▲Resident Life Safety Insurance & Bicycle Group Insurance ▲Children and Youth Village Bus Fare Support, to Continue and Expand This Year

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] "We have never lost sight of our original intention that 'the center of the district is the residents' and have continuously strived to improve the quality of life for our residents. To this end, we focused on securing external funding as much as possible and implementing projects that residents can directly feel."

Kim Seon-gap, Mayor of Gwangjin District, revealed the most meaningful achievements of the 7th local government term in an interview with this publication.

The Gwangjin District budget increased by about 300 billion KRW from 440 billion KRW in 2018, the launch year of the 7th local government term, to 732.3 billion KRW in 2022. To achieve this, Gwangjin District actively worked to secure external funding to overcome the structural financial problem where 56% of the property tax exemption area accounts for the total area. As a result, from 2019 to 2021, a total of 160 billion KRW was secured through public contest projects, special grants, and special local taxes over the past three years. The secured available funds were used to discover and promote projects that residents can directly feel. Mayor Kim said, "In the prolonged COVID-19 situation, we attempted changes to become a reliable support in the ordinary daily lives of residents who live with the risks of various disasters and unpredictable incidents and accidents," emphasizing the significance of these resident-focused projects.

Last year, Gwangjin District discovered a total of 158 new projects, of which 50 were resident-focused projects. Highly satisfactory projects such as ▲Gwangjin Mom Taxi ▲Resident Life Safety Insurance and Bicycle Group Insurance ▲Support for transportation costs for children and youth village buses will continue and expand this year.

In particular, the 'Gwangjin Mom Taxi,' which received great response last year, has expanded its target users from this year to include pregnant women and families with infants under 24 months, providing support within 100,000 KRW per child including the fetus, offering more benefits to families with multiple infants. The bicycle group insurance has been expanded to cover accidents caused by personal mobility devices (electric kickboards) for the first time in Seoul. Mayor Kim stated, "This year, to enhance regional value and help residents fully recover their daily lives, we held an early 'New Project Reporting Meeting' in July last year and discovered a total of 182 new projects. Among them, 128 are resident-focused projects, nearly three times the 50 projects from the previous year."

First, Mayor Kim prioritized daily life recovery and focused on establishing a rapid testing and home treatment system.

Gwangjin District has been operating a dedicated safe accommodation for families of home treatment patients free of charge since January, the first in Seoul. In addition, safe accommodations for families of self-quarantined individuals are also operated free of charge, divided into four zones for easy access. Even if families of self-quarantined individuals cannot use the safe accommodations due to personal circumstances and use general lodging facilities, they receive accommodation support of 30,000 KRW per night (up to 9 nights, 270,000 KRW). To support rapid testing, Gwangjin District operates a total of five screening clinics.

Along with this, Mayor Kim did not miss upgrading local cultural facilities by developing Achasan, Gwangjin District’s representative landmark, into a space for residents.

To develop Achasan as a space for residents, Gwangjin District is constructing the Achasan Forest Library this month and is promoting the 'Achasan Ecological Park Renovation' to refurbish facilities and green spaces in the ecological park that have been established for over 20 years. Last month, a complex community center with a public library was built in Gunja-dong, and at the end of last year, a small-scale senior welfare center was established in Jayang-dong to provide customized services such as hobbies and health management for the elderly. Mayor Kim said, "We are also making efforts to give some breathing room to the local small businesses that have suffered the most from the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic."

Gwangjin District operates the 'Public Delivery App,' the first of its kind among local governments, in cooperation with financial institutions to reduce the burden on small business owners with low brokerage fees and allow consumers to purchase at discounted prices. In addition, to enhance the self-sustainability and competitiveness of small business owners, the district promotes the 'Customized Management Clinic for Local Small Businesses' that supports tailored consulting and facility improvements, and the 'Gwangjin Economic Hub Center,' which integrates the existing Venture Startup Support Center, supports discovering excellent startup companies, consulting tailored to each company’s stage, and investment linkage, began operations this month. Plans include supporting unemployed youth with language test fees and operating a video interview experience center to strengthen employment capabilities.

Besides these, a total of 135 projects have been improved and discovered, including ▲Installation and operation of a single-person household support center ▲Support for young caregivers and family care ▲50+ internship ▲Moving cost support for basic livelihood security households. All projects can be checked on the Gwangjin District Office website. Mayor Kim Seon-gap said, "While preparing for 2022, we reflected various voices on what residents want based on the changes in Gwangjin District so far and incorporated them into this year's district administration," adding, "This year, we will continuously challenge ourselves to restore daily life and enhance regional value."

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