Jin Kyo-hoon meets 15 employees at Mercure Seoul Magok to discuss tourism content, traffic
Gangseo-gu District Mayor Jin Kyo-hoon held an on-site forum Tuesday to engage in open dialogue with workers in the district.
Jin hosted a "Tea Talk" forum at Mercure Seoul Magok, with 15 employees from various departments and levels — including rooms, food and beverage, sales and human resources — in attendance.
The session was intended to give workers in the Magok district a direct channel to voice their concerns and to explore ways to develop the area together.
True to the forum's name, participants chatted freely over coffee.
Attendees proposed developing tourism content by resource and theme to attract MICE tourists, drawing on local assets, and called for improvements to traffic congestion during rush hours.
Questions were also raised about how the district office building should be used following the relocation to a new integrated office complex, and about the broader direction of Gangseo-gu's development.
"I agree on the need to develop tourism content that can breathe new life into the local economy," Jin said. "We are working to identify a range of programs tied to culture, the arts and healthcare, as well as to companies based in Magok."
On traffic, Jin said the district would work with experts to comprehensively review the increase in traffic volume and signal system issues arising from Magok's growth, and would coordinate with the Seoul Metropolitan Government, police and other relevant agencies to draw up countermeasures.
Regarding the future use of the existing district office building, Jin said the district would first build a parking lot on the site of the current main building to address the parking shortage in Hwagok-dong, with a longer-term plan to develop it into a mixed-use cultural facility.
Tuesday's session was Jin's seventh on-site forum with companies based in Magok. He has previously visited LG Science Park, Lotte Central Research Institute, Daesang, Osstemimplant, Ourhome and Nexen Tire to hear directly from workers on the ground.
"It was a meaningful opportunity to visit local companies and hear the candid voices of young workers firsthand," Jin said. "I will do my best to ensure that the concerns raised and the suggestions for the area's development are reflected in district policy as much as possible."
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