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| Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon shakes hand with a resident of Samyang-dong, Gangbuk District, where he stayed for about a month to gain first-hand experience of living in an underprivileged area in northern Seoul, Sunday. Yonhap |
By Lee Kyung-min, Lee Suh-yoon
Public transport and housing as well as access to quality education, cultural activities and childrearing services will be improved in northern Seoul, as part of "balanced growth" of the capital, a key initiative of three-term Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government unveiled comprehensive city planning measures, Sunday, which are focused on benefiting Gangbuk _ or the area north of Han River, a long neglected part of the capital. The plan, similar to that implemented in the 1970s for the rapid development of Gangnam, south of the river, seeks to narrow the growing wealth inequality between the two areas.
About 1 trillion won ($889 million) will be spent through 2022.
Under the plan, the city government will allocate a budget for building light rail transit systems (RTS) in four areas, including the 9 kilometer-long Myeonmok Line connecting Cheongnyang-ri, Dongdaemun District and Sinnae, Jungnang District; and an 11.4 kilometer-long RTS connecting Ui-dong, Gangbuk District and Sinseol-dong, Dongdaemun District.
These railway projects have not yet been launched because private companies have not been participating due to their low economic feasibility.
Monorails and gondola lifts will be set up in steep, mountainous areas in the northeastern part of the city, where a large number of senior citizens live without cars and have limited access to public transport such as subways or buses.
The city will consider relocating major city government-affiliated organizations from the current Gangnam areas to northern Seoul including the Seoul Housing & Communities Corp., the Seoul Institute and the Seoul Human Resource Development Center.
It will also purchase 1,000 unoccupied houses and lease them to newly-weds at a low price, and financially support those who want to remodel their old, rundown houses. It will set up a city-run hospital for children, 486 public daycare centers and 25 public libraries in Gangbuk. More educational programs will be created for high school students through cooperation with four universities.
The plan follows Park's one-month stay between July 22 and Aug. 19 in Samyang-dong, Gangbuk District. Park sought first-hand experience of living in a small room without air conditioning in one of Seoul's underprivileged areas amid sweltering heat.
Wrapping up his stay, Park said politics should be about solving problems people face in everyday life.
"The thing I pondered over the most was the inequality between Gangnam and Gangbuk," Park said in a press conference announcing the development plan. "I think it is unacceptable to see how people in Gangnam have more money and how people there even live longer."
Residents in northern Seoul expressed hope that Park's experience could translate into real change.
"As a resident, I think old buildings and poor roads are a pretty big problem here. And because many young people are leaving, it's a place with a big elderly population. Since Park chose this place, I hope the area will be developed more," Yang Seung-hyun, 26, a Samyang-dong resident, said.
