"From the Citizens' Perspective"... Geumcheon District Appoints First Integrity Citizen Mayors

Spreading a Culture of Integrity Through Public-Private Cooperation

On June 26, Geumcheon District in Seoul announced that it has newly appointed two Integrity Citizen Mayors to implement transparent administration that meets the expectations of its residents.

Since 2012, the district has operated the Integrity Citizen Auditor system as an external anti-corruption control mechanism. This time, to further strengthen transparent administration, the district appointed Han Eunyoung, a specialist in technology, and Gong Kyungtaek, a general affairs expert, as Integrity Citizen Mayors from among the citizen auditors. Both were selected based on their residency in Geumcheon District and their expertise in their respective fields.

Yuseong Hoon, Mayor of Geumcheon District, presented a certificate of appointment to the Integrity Citizen Mayor on the 24th. Provided by Geumcheon District.

The Integrity Citizen Mayor does not simply provide advice or monitoring, but directly participates in administration by visiting sites vulnerable to corruption, diagnosing the actual situation, and contributing to administrative improvements. The district stated, "Although it is a one-day mayor position, it will be a time to realize transparent administration from the citizens' perspective," adding, "This is an attempt to further advance citizen-participatory transparent administration."

In fact, after receiving their certificates of appointment on the 24th, the two visited a total of four sites over two days on June 24 and 25: the Doksan-dong U Market Green Butcher Shop construction site, the Sun Hongan Cemetery Resident Rest Area construction site, Geumcheon Senior Club, and the Geumcheon District branch of the Korean Senior Citizens Association. They inspected elements vulnerable to corruption and listened to residents' opinions at each location.

The Integrity Citizen Mayors focused on the fairness of project implementation, the transparency of budget execution, and the level of resident satisfaction. They also shared various opinions and discussed proposals and cooperation strategies to create a more transparent administrative environment. Suggestions for improvement made during this process will be reflected in district administration.

The district expects the introduction of the Integrity Citizen Mayor system to yield various benefits, including improving the perceived level of integrity, raising public officials' awareness of transparency, and increasing trust in policies. In particular, based on this pilot operation, Geumcheon District plans to appoint two more Integrity Citizen Mayors in the second half of this year and expand the program to other corruption-prone areas such as licensing and tax administration.

Yuseong Hoon, Mayor of Geumcheon District, said, "This attempt, in which residents become mayors, marks the first step in innovation as transparency, once led by the administration, will now be created together at the residents' level," adding, "We will continue to ensure that residents can meaningfully participate in various transparency policies."

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