Ahn Hyeongju, Gwangju Seo-gu Council Member, "Illegal Political Banners Must Be Eradicated"

Seogu Council Members Launch 'Campaign'

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Shin Dong-ho] Ahn Hyeong-ju, a member of the Gwangju Metropolitan City Seo-gu Council, has called for the eradication of illegal promotional banners by politicians.

According to Seo-gu Council on the 10th, all council members recently conducted a campaign titled "Ban on Posting Illegal Promotional Banners by Politicians."

Every holiday, greeting banners aimed at promoting politicians' names and faces have been repeatedly displayed year after year.

During the last holiday, relatively fewer banners were posted, but banners installed using street trees and streetlights as supports in places with heavy foot traffic such as intersections and markets remained prevalent.

Most of these banners are illegal. Although prior notification and payment of fees are required, it has been a longstanding practice for banners to be installed arbitrarily and then removed by administrative authorities after the holiday period, continuing for decades.

Experts explain that these illegal banners, installed haphazardly in undesignated locations, not only spoil the cityscape but also cause inconvenience to pedestrians and obstruct drivers' visibility, potentially leading to serious accidents.

Additionally, due to the nature of banners being made from chemical fiber fabrics such as polyester and nylon, dyed with special solutions, they are difficult to recycle, which runs counter to the current trend of addressing the climate crisis.

Banners do not decompose well when buried and emit large amounts of greenhouse gases and toxic substances when incinerated. The Climate Change Action Research Institute has reported that the greenhouse gas emissions per banner amount to 6.28 kg CO₂e (carbon dioxide equivalent).

Councilor Ahn Hyeong-ju stated, "Before holidays, politicians post banners illegally without obtaining permission from the local district office to promote their legislative activities and names," adding, "This is not good for the cityscape and is undesirable from an environmental perspective."

He continued, "Although the district office always removes illegal banners and imposes fines, it neither removes illegal banners posted by politicians nor fines them, causing issues of fairness," and added, "The tolerated practice of illegal banners by politicians must be eradicated."

Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Shin Dong-ho yjm3070@asiae.co.kr

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