Dongducheon mayor vows to secure policy funds, project budgets for residents

Dongducheon held a ceremony Friday to mark the 46th Dongducheon Citizens' Day at the city's civic center.

The event opened with performances by the Dongducheon City Choir, the city's Idam Nongak troupe and invited singer Han Na-miguel, drawing about 500 attendees including senior guests, heads of affiliated organizations, civic group leaders, civil servants and residents.

The main program began with an opening ceremony and the national pledge, followed by the appointment of five "citizen public relations ambassadors" who will promote city administration and key projects through their personal social media accounts, and a commendation ceremony honoring residents who have contributed to local community development.

Dongducheon Mayor Park Hyeong-deok said in his address that the city will mark its 50th anniversary in five years, having been elevated to city status in 1981. "Every change Dongducheon has made — overcoming three major floods, the enactment of the special law supporting USFK-granted zones in 2006, the opening of Subway Line 1, and the establishment of Dongyang University's campus in 2016 — has been the fruit of what you, the citizens, built yourselves," he said.

Park also highlighted key achievements of the current administration, including Dongducheon's designation as a leading district under the education development special zone program, its selection in a public integrated rental housing competition, urban renewal and Pyeonghwa-ro expansion projects, leisure infrastructure development at Soyosan and Wangbang Valley, and the announcement of a GTX-C line extension. He added that a livestock brand meat town that had sat neglected for more than a decade would reopen at the end of this month as "Soyo-sai," a four-season rest space featuring a foot bath and cafe.

Park then presented seven key priorities for Dongducheon, pledging to secure strong support from the central government and Gyeonggi Province to tackle the city's most pressing challenges head-on.

The priorities are: securing national funding for the GTX-C extension project; including long-unreturned USFK-granted land in the local allocation tax calculation criteria; ensuring the Gyeonggi Province Jobs Foundation follows through on its promise to relocate to Dongducheon by 2027; installing a ramp toward Pocheon at the North Yangju interchange on the Second Metropolitan Beltway; launching early pre-sales for phase one of the Dongducheon national industrial complex and developing phase two; and amending the USFK-granted zone special law to compensate the city for 70 years of security sacrifices.

"I will not make light promises that I will achieve all of these," Park said. "There may be doors that do not open no matter how hard we knock, and there may be times of humiliation — but I will never back down. The mayor's role is to demand on behalf of the citizens, and I will make sure Dongducheon residents receive every bit of policy support and project funding they rightfully deserve."

The ceremony also featured congratulatory remarks from National Assembly member Kim Seong-won and Dongducheon City Council Speaker Im Hyeon-suk, followed by video messages from the Gyeonggi Province governor and from sister and friendship cities — Gapyeong-gun and Geoje — as well as neighboring municipalities including Yangju, Uijeongbu and Yeoncheon-gun. The event closed with all attendees singing the Dongducheon Citizens' Song together.

A companion exhibition titled "Dongducheon's Development: Past and Present" ran concurrently in the civic center's gallery. Featuring cityscape and daily-life photographs spanning the 1980s, 1990s and the present day, the display gave residents a chance to revisit old memories and enjoy a nostalgic journey through the city's history.