{"id":72373,"date":"2026-07-02T15:27:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T15:27:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/72373\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T15:27:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T15:27:13","slug":"seoul-district-chiefs-start-terms-on-the-ground-sign-redevelopment-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/72373\/","title":{"rendered":"Seoul District Chiefs Start Terms on the Ground, Sign Redevelopment First"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the launch of the ninth popularly elected local governments, new district chiefs across Seoul’s autonomous districts began their terms by visiting the public sites where residents’ concerns are concentrated, including transit and safety. The first approval documents signed by first-term district chiefs were mostly agenda items related to redevelopment and reconstruction projects, directly reflecting residents’ interests. Their early moves, weighted toward on-site inspections and a push to speed up redevelopment projects, are emerging as clues to the direction of their district administration over the next four years.<\/p>\n

\"LeeLee Su-hee (center), head of Gangdong-gu Office, checks congestion levels between Byeollae Station and Cheonho Station while riding Seoul Subway Line 8 on the 1st, the first day of the 9th popularly elected term. Photo courtesy of Gangdong-gu<\/p>\n

According to the districts on Tuesday, Gangdong District Chief Lee Su-hee began her first-day schedule of the ninth term by boarding a Subway Line 8 car the previous morning. Lee traveled from Byeollae Station to Cheonho Station in person to check congestion and listen to passengers’ opinions, paying attention to the “transit issues” that residents are most sensitive about. “I will make Gangdong a ‘wannabe Gangdong,’ a place where anyone would want to live, work, and raise children,” she said.<\/p>\n

The first official destination for Dobong District Chief Kim Dong-wook was the Dobongsan public bus depot. At this site, where major trunk-line buses in Seoul depart, he boarded a bus with residents and traveled to the Uigyo stop, experiencing the commute of Dobong residents firsthand. He then held a meeting with environmental public workers, showing interest in examining labor conditions at daily-life sites by pledging to work on creating a safe working environment and improving treatment for personnel engaged in on-site duties such as garbage collection and road cleaning.<\/p>\n

\"YooYoo Dong-gyun (left), head of Mapo-gu Office, visits the Mangwon No. 1 Rainwater Pumping Station as his first move in the 9th popularly elected term. Photo courtesy of Mapo-gu<\/p>\n

Mapo District Chief Yoo Dong-kyun visited the Mangwon retention basin and the Mangwon No. 1 stormwater pumping station as his first on-site schedule. The move was aimed at directly checking the emergency response system and disaster preparedness against summer torrential rains. “As localized torrential rains are becoming more frequent due to climate change, we must strengthen on-site response capabilities and create an environment where residents can live with peace of mind through prevention-focused, preemptive safety management,” he stressed.<\/p>\n

Gwanak District Chief Park Jun-hee also toured the Byeolbitnaerincheon water play area and the Gwanaksan Park water play area in turn as his first official schedule. He examined the safety conditions and operational preparations of facilities ahead of their opening, and called for safety management measures to prevent accidents in spaces such as streams and parks that draw many visitors in summer. Through such on-site inspections, Park has emphasized “district administration that puts resident safety first” from the outset.<\/p>\n

\"YooYoo Bo-hwa, head of Seongdong-gu Office, reviews the contents of her first approval plan. Photo courtesy of Seongdong-gu<\/p>\n

A considerable number of newly elected first-term district chiefs chose agenda items related to redevelopment projects as their first approvals. Seongdong District Chief Yoo Bo-hwa approved a “plan to establish a rapid management task force for redevelopment and reconstruction” as her first task of the ninth term. Yoo plans to shorten project periods and enhance safety by reorganizing the implementation system through the rapid management task force, which will consult on redevelopment projects with outside experts and support conflict mediation.<\/p>\n

Nowon District Chief Suh Jun-oh approved the “formation of a task force for the rapid promotion of reconstruction and redevelopment” as his first approval, then visited the Baeksa Village redevelopment project site in Junggyebon-dong to check on progress. “Choosing the formation of the rapid redevelopment task force as my first approval reflects my will that urban innovation can no longer be delayed,” Suh said. “I will pick up the pace by resolving factors delaying projects one by one, so that residents can feel the change.”<\/p>\n

The first approval item for Dongjak District Chief Ryu Sam-young is also a plan to promote redevelopment projects such as reconstruction and redevelopment. The district plans to build a control tower integrating redevelopment-related functions and to operate customized dedicated task forces for each zone to intensively manage delayed zones. “I will do my best so that Dongjak can become a leading model of unobstructed redevelopment projects,” Ryu said.<\/p>\n

Yongsan District Chief Kim Kyung-dae and Gangnam District Chief Kim Hyun-gi also handled redevelopment-related agenda items as their first approvals, showing eagerness for the rapid promotion of reconstruction and redevelopment.<\/p>\n

\"ParkPark Un-gi, head of Seodaemun-gu Office, signs his first approval document. Photo courtesy of Seodaemun-gu<\/p>\n

A significant number of districts handled agenda items reflecting local issues as their first. Seodaemun District Chief Park Un-ki approved a “plan to revitalize resident autonomy councils,” pushing to revive resident autonomy councils that had been suspended since November 2022. Geumcheon District Chief Choi Ki-chan chose the establishment of an institutional mechanism to ease resident conflicts over the construction of a nearby data center as his first approval item, seeking to balance the development of the digital industry with the protection of the residential environment.<\/p>\n

Dongdaemun District Chief Choi Dong-min signed the “implementation of a Dongdaemun-style integrated care specialized project” as his first approval upon taking office. “Welfare must begin not at a desk but in the daily lives of residents,” Choi said. “I will protect residents’ lives through outreach care where the administration comes to them first.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the launch of the ninth popularly elected local governments, new district chiefs across Seoul’s autonomous districts began…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72374,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[39271,39269,39273,39270,25988,39272,112,39268,27280],"class_list":["post-72373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-seoul","tag-gangdong-district","tag-ninth-local-government","tag-nowon-district","tag-reconstruction","tag-redevelopment-projects","tag-seongdong-district","tag-seoul","tag-seoul-district-chiefs","tag-urban-renewal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72373"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72373\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}