Gunpo mayor vows to tackle 4 key challenges on 100th day in office

Gunpo Mayor Han Dae-hee marked his 100th day in office Thursday, pledging to "swiftly achieve a great urban transformation in Gunpo through four core tasks, including the relocation of the multimodal logistics terminal."

Han made the announcement at a press conference held at the Gunpo City Hall annex conference room, presenting the theme "100 Days of Urban Transformation" and outlining his administration's achievements and future direction.

He particularly highlighted the harm that national infrastructure projects have inflicted on Gunpo residents over the years, and strongly called on the central government to act on the principle of "special compensation for special sacrifice" — a phrase long championed by President Lee Jae Myung during his tenures as Seongnam mayor and Gyeonggi Province governor.

The most forcefully emphasized point at the press conference was the relocation of the Gunpo multimodal logistics terminal. Han said the state has occupied land equivalent to 24 percent of the city's total area — or 56 percent excluding development-restricted zones — for more than 40 years through national infrastructure projects, and that residents have endured traffic congestion, noise, dust and urban fragmentation caused by the logistics facility for over 30 years.

"The structure in which the state reaps the benefits while Gunpo bears all the costs must now change," he said. Han formally called on the government to take three steps: officially review the terminal's relocation as a matter of national logistics and land policy and share the costs responsibly; support the redevelopment of the vacated site into a future-oriented complex district integrating advanced industry, residential and cultural uses; and establish a standing consultative framework for Gunpo and the central government to jointly address broader regional issues, including mixed-use development around Geumjeong Station and the underground routing of rail lines.

Beyond the logistics terminal relocation, the city also presented three additional transformation strategies to guide its administration.

These include an accelerated push to redevelop and reconstruct aging original downtown areas and Sanbon new town into future-oriented residential and economic spaces; a sweeping overhaul of the area around Geumjeong Station in line with the ground-breaking of the GTX-C line, positioning it as a key hub in the southern Greater Seoul area; and plans to reconnect fragmented residential zones and create new urban spaces above them.

"These four initiatives are not separate projects — they are a single transformation strategy to reshape Gunpo's urban structure, improve residents' quality of life and lay the groundwork for the next generation," Han said. "When Geumjeong Station changes, Gunpo's urban map changes. When the urban map changes, residents' daily lives change." Tangible progress is already emerging: demolition work has begun in Gunpo District 10, the contractor selection process has been launched for integrated reconstruction Zone 9-2, and four local governments have reached an agreement on extending the Shinbundang Line to Gunpo.

The city also unveiled the results of intensive administrative reforms over the past 100 days. Through his first official approval upon taking office, Han established an Urban Renewal Bureau and a Youth Sovereignty Office to lead urban innovation and youth policy. The city reorganized its structure from 50 departments and 189 teams to 52 departments and 192 teams, introduced an open recruitment system for key team leader positions, and formed a fiscal strategy task force to begin trimming expenditures in pursuit of a sound fiscal structure. The city also finalized five strategic priorities and 90 campaign pledge projects following review by its policy planning unit, and formed a pledge implementation evaluation committee with the Korea Manifesto Practice Headquarters to monitor progress.

The city also significantly lowered barriers to public communication.

Since August, the city has livestreamed its expanded senior staff meetings on YouTube each month to make the decision-making process transparent. It also introduced a "rapid change key project communication" initiative in which the mayor visits sites directly, along with a "dong chief complaint accountability system." Han said, "'Substantive civic sovereignty' begins with transparent disclosure and sincere communication," adding, "The more a task involves changing residents' lives and the city's future, the more openly we will discuss it and the more responsibly we will decide."

The party-government council and the council-administration council, both of which had stalled during the eighth elected term, have been reactivated. Starting this month, the city plans to discuss key issues — including redevelopment and reconstruction, changes around Geumjeong Station, and the logistics terminal relocation — with residents through a newly formed public deliberation committee.

Among other achievements, the city won a youth-friendly policy award through its youth participatory budgeting program, and recorded lifestyle welfare gains including expanded transportation subsidies for senior citizens and improvements to senior center facilities. The city also received an excellence award in the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's Korea Urban Awards for a solar panel noise barrier project in the Huimang Eco Village, ranked second nationwide in the Ministry of Environment's evaluation of local government carbon neutrality best practices, and won the grand prize at the Gyeonggi Province proactive administration competition for a waste incineration cooperation initiative with Gwangmyeong.

"The past 100 days were a time to turn the promise of change into an irreversible momentum," Han said. "Going forward, this administration will be judged not by words, but by process and results. I will prove it — by turning the promises of 100 days into four years of achievement, and into a great transformation that opens the next 100 years for Gunpo."