Mapo-gu district mayor vows to prioritize redevelopment, reconstruction projects

Yu Dong-gyun, district mayor of Seoul's Mapo-gu, said Monday that redevelopment and reconstruction would be his top priority, and pledged to further develop the "hyodo bapsang" (senior meal service) program created under his predecessor.

Yu made the remarks at a press briefing on the vision for the 9th elected-term Mapo-gu administration, held at the district office's audiovisual room that day, where he laid out his plans for the next four years.

"There are currently 61 urban renewal projects under way in Mapo, but the pace has not been fast enough for residents to feel the difference," he said. "We will assign field experts by specialty to each project site, work through every bottleneck one by one, and accelerate the pace of these projects." He added that the district would monitor where residents encounter difficulties throughout the process and provide close support from start to finish. On his first day in office — Wednesday, July 1 — Yu signed, as his first official act, a plan to establish a dedicated task force for the swift advancement of redevelopment and reconstruction projects.

Yu said many elderly residents had worried during the election campaign that the hyodo bapsang program would be discontinued. "I actually thought it needed to be developed further," he said. He promised to restructure the program's budget on a more stable footing during the 9th elected term so that more seniors could benefit over a longer period. "Welfare is not for any one generation," he said. "I want to build a life-cycle welfare system that accompanies people from the moment they are born, through raising children, and all the way to a healthy old age."

Yu also pledged to transform Mapo-gu from a district that draws many visitors into one where they stay longer. To that end, he plans to create a cultural belt linking Gongdeok, Hongdae, Hapjeong, Mangwon and the Han River, and to connect tourism resources that reflect each neighborhood's distinct character so that the entire district functions as a single tourism destination. "We will build the infrastructure for longer-stay tourism," he said, adding that the district would prioritize reviving the struggling tourism accommodation sector and further develop food-specialty commercial zones such as Yonggang-dong and Jumulleok Street. He also said the district would develop experiential tourism content — citing a traditional official's procession as one example — and promote indie bands and busking to restore Mapo's spirit of freedom and creativity throughout Hongdae and beyond.

On education and youth, Yu said he wanted to make Mapo-gu a neighborhood where residents — from children to young adults and their children's children — would want to keep living. He recalled receiving a text message from a resident requesting a children's playground near Gongdeok Station along the Gyeongui Line Forest Park, saying he had incorporated the suggestion into his campaign pledges for the 9th elected term. "I want every child who goes to school in Mapo to learn survival swimming, rowing, one instrument and one sport," he said, adding that he would restructure the direction of education expense subsidies to help establish that kind of learning environment.