Mapo-gu will carry out its first organizational restructuring under the elected 9th term on Friday, district mayor Yoo Dong-gyun announced, saying the overhaul aims to fulfill campaign pledges made to residents without delay.
The reorganization consolidates scattered functions and places related work in closer proximity to accelerate key 9th-term projects and improve administrative efficiency, with a focus on concentrating resources in priority areas.
The names of bureaus, divisions and teams will also be revised so residents can more easily identify what each unit does. Departments whose names were too vague to convey their actual responsibilities will be renamed with more intuitive titles to improve public access to district services.
While the overall organizational framework is being streamlined, the number of bureau-level units will be reduced from eight to seven to concentrate personnel and functions where they are most needed. The restructuring keeps the existing two commissioner-level offices and 37 divisions intact, while adding one team to bring the total to 159.
The most notable change is the creation of dedicated divisions for youth policy and care services.
According to Seoul Metropolitan Government resident registration statistics for the second quarter of this year, 34 percent of Mapo-gu's population is between the ages of 19 and 39 — the fourth-highest youth population share among Seoul's 25 autonomous districts. In response, the 9th-term administration will further strengthen support for young residents.
A new Youth Policy Division will be established by expanding the youth support functions previously housed in the Employment Cooperation Division, consolidating job placement, entrepreneurship and related services under one roof to deliver more systematic policy support for young people.
In the welfare sector, care functions that had operated at the team level within the Welfare Policy Division will be strengthened and reorganized into a new Integrated Care Division.
The move aligns with the full implementation on March 27 of the Act on Integrated Support for Local Care, including medical and long-term care services, which formalized a local government-centered integrated care system. The new division will house a Care Policy Team, a Care Support Team, a Single-Person Household Care Team and a Mental Care Team, systematizing and subdividing care services while managing them under a single division.
The Environment and Green Space Bureau, which comprised four divisions, will be dissolved, with each division reassigned based on functional relevance.
The Clean Mapo Division and the Resource Recycling Division will be merged into a new Sanitation Administration Division under the Administrative Management Bureau, allowing waste management, recycling and other services closely tied to daily residential life to be handled efficiently in one place.
The Clean Environment Division will be renamed the Environment Division and, together with the Parks and Green Space Division, relocated to the Urban Environment Bureau. The move enables housing, urban planning, architecture, environment, and parks and green space functions to be coordinated within a single bureau for a more comprehensive approach to urban and living environments.
Planning and budget functions, previously split between the New Mapo Office and the Budget Policy Division, will be consolidated into a new Planning and Budget Division to link policy formulation with resource allocation and support faster project execution.
The Public Relations and Media Division, which has communicated district policies and projects to residents through press and online channels, will be renamed the Public Relations Office and placed directly under the deputy district mayor to enable faster, more responsive communications.
Within the Culture and Arts Division, a new Religious Affairs Team will be established by expanding the existing religious affairs work of the Cultural Projects Team, with plans to strengthen communication with religious organizations and build a foundation for inclusive administration that embraces diverse values and perspectives.
"What matters in public administration is not the size of the organization but how well it delivers what residents actually need," district mayor Yoo said. "We will align our efforts with each unit's role, keep residents at the center of administration, and build a district government where people can feel the difference."
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