U.N. Awards for Seoul

Seoul Mayor Oh accepts two U.N. awards for city's public policies; Arisu water services and online public idea collection system

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon accepted two U.N. awards for Seoul City's public policies, one for the city's management of Arisu piped water and the other for its Internet public idea collection system, "oasis.seoul.go.kr,"as ideas collected online have been referred to in the city's policy decisions, allowing public participation in the city's policy-making processes for the first time in the country.
Mayor Oh received the awards at the 2009 U.N. Public Administration Awards ceremony at the U.N headquarters in New York in the presence of U.N. Sec.-Gen. Ban Ki-moon.
Beginning in 2003, the awards are presented annually to the winners selected by the U.N. Public Administration Network from around the world in four areas. This year, 12 public policies were selected by the U.N. organization from public organizations in Korea, Sweden and Poland, among others.
Seoul City's policies on its Arisu piped water won the selection for its transparency, trust among the public and responsive public service, receiving the highest marks in their respective areas as an example of an improved public service. The city provided online and offline services to inform the citizenry about the conditions at water reservoirs, water refining facilities and supply facilities in real time. Arisu technicians make calls on homes to check the quality of piped water under the city's policies to make sure that Arisu is always safe to drink. The city maintains six water reservoirs, six water treatment plants and 60 substations to supply tap water to the city's homes and check the quality of water at each point along the system starting with water reservoirs, refining plants and supply systems for such items as suspended material, PH levels, residual chlorine and other harmful matter. Such efforts by the city to defray Seoul residents'concerns about their drinking water to a considerable degree won it the U.N. award.
Seoul City's online idea collection system, "oasis.seoul.go.kr,"also won the accolade because it allowed public participation in the municipal policy decision-making processes, considered a highly innovative idea.
At the award ceremony, Mayor Oh said Seoul City's creative municipal policies have been copied by such first-class companies as Samsung in its creative management base and is being spread to local autonomous entities and even foreign business firms.
The mayor said the city will continue to come up with creative ideas to make itself an eternal, attractive metropolis through endless improvement. He would like to show how a large city such as Seoul can be further developed with creative ideas for governance.
In the meantime, the mayor had a meeting with U.N. Sec.-Gen. Ban at his office in the U.N. headquarters before the awards ceremony. They discussed what Seoul can do for the international society.
Ban said Seoul has been developing in many shining ways, boosting its international image, and congratulated the mayor for winning two U.N. awards simultaneously.
The Seoul mayor explained to Ban the C40 World Climate Summit held in Seoul in May and hoped that Seoul can play a role in the global effort to prevent global climate change with the United Nations, which has been leading the prevention measures for global warming and has been seeking solutions to the various international environmental problems with the many signatory countries of the Kyoto Protocol for Climate Change.
Mayor Oh had high praise for the U.N.'s efforts led by Ban to solve various international problems such as the conflicts in the Middle East, the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, swine flu and North Korea's nuclear tests, among others.
Oh hoped that the secretary general can steer the U.N. to help solve the heightened tension on the Korean Peninsula by persuading the North to hold a peaceful dialogue with the South and return to the Six Party Talks to denuclearize the North.
It was his first meeting with Ban since a meeting in 2007 and Seoul expects its global image will be heightened further through winning the two U.N. awards. Seoul plans to work for closer cooperation with the U.N. and expand its international role. nw

United Nations Sec.-Gen. Ban Ki-moon, 2nd L, shakes hands with Mayor of Seoul Oh Se-hoon 3rd L, after handing him the UN Public 'Administration Awards for Seoul's exemplary policies, one for management of its Arisu tap water system in the city and the other for public ideas collection system on the Internet. The top UN official is a former foreign minister of Korea. Photo on courtesy of Seoul Metropolitan Government.