Yeongdeungpo-gu transition team takes up 'Jwisan' as potential tourism asset

The transition team of Yeongdeungpo-gu chief-elect Jo Yu-jin announced Monday that it has begun discussions on developing Jwisan as a tourism asset.

Jwisan is a 50.5-meter hill located where Anyangcheon Stream meets the Han River — the only remaining hill in Yeongdeungpo-gu. It sits directly across from the site of Seonyu Peak, once known as "Cat Mountain" (Gwaengisan) because its shape resembled a cat stalking prey. Development work gradually eroded the land around Seonyu Peak, eventually turning it into an island now called Seonyudo. The hill on the opposite bank, said to resemble a mouse fleeing the cat, came to be called Jwisan — "Mouse Mountain." Despite its historical character, Jwisan has long been underutilized as a local resource due to deterioration and limited accessibility.

The transition team plans to examine how Jwisan could be restored and put to use. Its longer-term goal is to link the hill to the historical, ecological and scenic assets of the Han River, Anyangcheon Stream and the Yanghwa-dong area, creating a distinctive tourism and recreation hub unique to Yeongdeungpo.

The team also intends to review potential uses for the site after restoration, with the aim of making Jwisan a space that showcases Yeongdeungpo's appeal to outside visitors.

The transition team was formally launched on June 17, with You Gwang-sang, former chairman of the Seoul Mayor's Scholarship Foundation, serving as its head. It comprises 15 transition committee members and 44 advisory members.

Working through three subcommittees — future vision, administrative reform and urban safety — the team is focused on prioritizing key issues and campaign pledges and mapping out how to implement them. At the center of its work are 32 campaign pledges across eight policy areas that the chief-elect designed herself. The team is reviewing the direction and feasibility of each pledge based on departmental briefings, expert consultations and on-site feedback. The goal is to ensure that commitments made to residents during the election are reflected in the actual governance of the ninth directly elected administration, not left as mere declarations.

In education, the team has identified candidate sites for a planned premium education complex in the Singil area. The initiative aims to dramatically improve the educational environment in that zone while balancing infrastructure expansion with equitable development across neighborhoods, and will be developed into a comprehensive facility combining education, culture and childcare functions.

In urban environment and pedestrian safety, the team has also produced tangible results on issues directly affecting residents' daily lives. It expanded the scope of underground power-line installation, bringing the number of target sites under review to five, with the aim of improving the streetscape and raising the standard of pedestrian safety and quality of life.

The team also worked with the Yeongdeungpo Police Station to cut the supplementary review period for crosswalk installation from three months to one. The streamlined process will allow safety infrastructure directly tied to residents' daily lives to be put in place more quickly.

"The transition team's work is the process of turning the promises I made to residents into concrete action plans and charting a new future for Yeongdeungpo," Jo said. "Restoring Jwisan is an important starting point — it will create a new mountain-linked tourism asset that Yeongdeungpo has never had before, and return the district's history and nature to residents as their own."

She added that the team would carefully review all 32 pledges across eight areas and move quickly on those that can be implemented immediately. "We will deliver tangible change and results in areas that touch residents' everyday lives — education, urban environment, safety and tourism — and show the future of a 'world-class Yeongdeungpo' through real results," she said.

Transition committee chair You said the team has been focused on faithfully incorporating feedback from the field and expert opinion. "We will continue to review key issues comprehensively throughout the remainder of our activities, so that the ninth administration can hit the ground running with policy momentum from day one," he said.

The transition team plans to continue sector-by-sector discussions and consultations with relevant departments, compiling a policy roadmap and recommendations for each campaign pledge to serve as foundational material for governing Yeongdeungpo under the ninth directly elected administration.