Creative Cultural City

Seoul City aims for economic revitalization and an upgraded quality of life this year: Mayor Oh

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said the theme of the Seoul Metropolitan Government for the New Year is "Creative Cultural City,"to push the capital city's economic revitalization and upgrade its quality of life with artistic culture as capital.
He said he is still "hungry"and will change the city's policies often in pursuit of those goals.
As he enters his third year as the mayor of the nation's capital, he said he is very satisfied with the results of his policies since he took over the city's administration. He said the initial stage of his administration is over and substantial progress has been made toward making the city a more satisfying place for residents and a positive symbol of life in Korea. The mayor said he will meet with President-elect Lee Myung-bak soon. He has been preparing the subjects that he will discuss with the President-elect, but he feels that not much preparation is needed since Lee himself is a former mayor of Seoul.
Oh said he will propose to the former Seoul mayor that the responsibility of providing security for the capital should rest with the city, not the central government. He said he would not ask the President-elect to hand all the rights for policing the city to the metropolitan government, but mainly the parts dealing with discipline and order in the city. The mayor said the city should also be given the right to set education policies for the city, saying that the next government would understand the need for a firm implementation of local autonomy to the extent that special cities and provinces should be fully autonomous as stipulated in the Constitution.
When asked about the possibility of the Seoul mayor sitting in on cabinet meetings, he said the President-elect should know what to do about the matter since he experienced various inconveniences when he was Seoul mayor himself, not being able to attend the meetings.
Since local governments implement the central government's policies, Oh said, both the central and local governments should be able to communicate well with each other in order to prevent misunderstandings and ensure that policies are carried out as intended. Personnel exchanges between Seoul City and the central government are possible, too, if there is a direction, although it is difficult on an expert level, the mayor said.
Regarding long-term rental housing projects, he said he recommended the idea to the President-elect during the presidential campaign, and it has been adopted as a pledge by Lee. He is sure that the project will be dealt with by the next government as a priority project, although it may be somewhat revised by the central government.
Oh said he agrees with the suggestion that Seoul needs to have more convention and gambling facilities. He said the new government should go ahead with the policy to build more casinos and convention halls in Seoul to cater to foreign tourists and conventioneers, especially Chinese tourists. The COEX enjoys an 85 percent average operation rate, showing that more convention facilities in Seoul need to be built. He is ready to issue licenses for the construction of more such facilities if applications are made. He supports the idea that an area surrounding COEX, Jamsil Stadium, SETEC and Sockchon Lake should be combined to create a convention town.
On his political future, he said he has no time to think about that; he has enough work on his hands as the mayor of Seoul. Oh said that in terms of national competitiveness, Seoul may be more important than the central government. Balanced development may sound good, but when things are difficult, fostering the first son would lead to the prosperity of the other sons to follow. The development of Seoul would lead to other cities benefiting in economic terms. Seoul is the only city in the country that can locate such futuristic industries as knowledge and creativity and the next government should remove all of the regulations that bar the location of high-tech plants and other industrial facilities within Seoul proper.
Oh also said he is firm in his conviction that more new towns should not be allowed in Seoul until the new towns already designated are completed first. Many requests for the designation of new towns are being made in connection with the upcoming general election, but he said his decision will stand. nw

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon.

A bird's eyeview of Yongsan International Business Area.