"Open the Urban Railway"... District Mayor Visits Seoul City Hall

Gangbuk District Mayor Meets Political Deputy Mayor to Deliver 210,000 Signatures
"Also Necessary to Bridge the Gap Between Gangnam and Gangbuk Areas"

Gangbuk-gu Mayor Lee Soon-hee (right) met with Seoul Deputy Mayor for Political Affairs Kang Cheol-won (left) on the 23rd to deliver the petition for attracting the new Gangbuk Line. (Photo by Gangbuk-gu)

Gangbuk-gu, Seoul (Mayor Lee Soon-hee) announced on the 24th that on the 23rd, they met with Gang Cheol-won, Deputy Mayor for Political Affairs of Seoul, to explain the necessity of attracting the ‘New Gangbuk Line’ and delivered signatures from 218,922 Gangbuk residents supporting the cause.

The ‘New Gangbuk Line’ is a northeastern Seoul urban railway connecting Ui-dong 4.19 Democratic Cemetery Station in Gangbuk-gu, passing Wolgye 2 Bridge, and extending to Sangbong Station. It is one of the key campaign promises of Mayor Lee Soon-hee of Gangbuk-gu. This line will pass through six autonomous districts including Gangbuk-gu, Nowon, Dobong, Dongdaemun, Seongbuk, and Jungnang, intersecting with six lines in total: Subway Lines 1, 4, 6, 7, the Ui-Sinseol Line, and the Dongbuk Line scheduled to open in 2026.

The mayor views attracting the New Gangbuk Line to the northeastern area, which has been a development-deprived region, as not only improving transportation conditions but also revitalizing the local economy, significantly contributing to reducing the regional disparity between northern and southern Seoul.

To this end, the district prepared a basic plan for promoting the New Gangbuk Line attraction in July last year and has been conducting a preliminary feasibility study on the New Gangbuk urban railway since December. In May, they produced promotional videos to raise awareness of the necessity of attracting the New Gangbuk Line among citizens of Gangbuk-gu and neighboring districts.

While delivering the signatures of over 210,000 residents to the Deputy Mayor for Political Affairs of Seoul, Mayor Lee Soon-hee stated, “While Seoul has grown into an international metropolis today, the northeastern area has been a development-deprived region, and among them, Gangbuk-gu is the only place without a subway transfer station,” conveying the difficult conditions.

She also explained the necessity of attracting the New Gangbuk Line to Gangbuk-gu and the economic and social effects such as balanced development between northern and southern Seoul, saying, “This area urgently needs transportation infrastructure and has high development potential through redevelopment plans in six northeastern districts, including the easing of height restrictions and Moa Town No. 1.” Deputy Mayor Kang responded, “We have received the valuable opinions of citizens well and will review them thoroughly.”

The district plans to complete the preliminary feasibility study by December this year and submit it to Seoul City to include the New Gangbuk Line in the ‘2nd Urban Railway Network Construction Modification Plan’ that Seoul City will promote by the end of next year.

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