Suwon City Major Yeom Tae-young has developed a reputation for keeping to his pledges.

Out of his 100 projects pledged as the sixth mayor of the city elected through popular votes, 98 have been or are on their way to being successfully implemented, including 26 that have already been completed.

The city expects for the pledge implementation rate to reach 69 percent before his term ends in June 2018. In other words, all the projects, excluding 31 long-term plans, will be completed.

Yeom’s key word for the New Year is “Dongshim Gongjae,” which means working together through the difficult times. It is a combination of the word ‘Dongshim (one mind)’ and ‘Gongjae (crossing together)’ as stated in the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty.

A busy economic city

From this year to 2019, Yeom is promoting a project to create some 1,200 new jobs in the public sector to help unemployed young people. At least 50 percent of public jobs created through the project will be designed for young workers.

There are also plans to diversify the target countries and job classifications of the “Overseas Youth Employment Project” (K-Move School). The city is running the “Suwon JOBS platform” as well, which provides young jobseekers with specific and relevant information about companies in Gyeonggi Province.

To achieve this year’s aim of creating 36,000 jobs, Suwon will operate a center designed to resonate with the citizens’ lives with an aim to create 15,000 jobs by holding various recruitment events.

Furthermore, to resolve the mismatch of demands among professional workfers and the companies, it will provide work-related education and training along with a tailored recruitment support program and a team of “job hunters.”

By hosting startup investment contests and startup idea auditions, the city will strive to rise as a leading startup city.

The city is also focusing on facilitating small businesses and traditional markets. It is offering special guarantees for unsecured loans to small enterprises that face difficulties in getting loans due to their low credit ratings. It will also support their stable business management through education, consulting and improving the business environment.

Along with its “Merchant Leader Workshop,” the city is also working to modernize facilities in traditional markets.

By December, youth malls will be created at some 20 stores on the second floor of the Yeongdong Market to spruce up the traditional marketplace. A project to create a global luxury goods market for the Suwon South Gate Market will continue until June 2019.

A joyous sustainable city

Suwon has declared its intention to become an environmental capital, and has the largest voluntary greenhouse gas reduction target in the country. Compared to 2015 levels, the city is planning to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020 (mid-term), and by 40 percent by 2030 (long-term).

To reduce the greenhouse gas emitted during incineration, it is seeking to reduce the amount of waste produced this year. Policies such as check-ups on waste brought to the Resource Recovery Facility, reviews on waste output, recycling of food waste, and strengthening public education and promotion efforts aim to reduce the current 179,682 tons of waste down to 149,000 tons. If this target is achieved, the emission of greenhouse gas can be reduced by around 17 percent.

There will also be wider use of alternative or renewable energy sources that will replace fossil fuels. To create a basis for energy self-sufficiency, solar power panels will be installed on nine public buildings and social welfare centers. The city will also continue to build the “Sharing Sunlight Power Plant” to realize energy welfare. Furthermore, to promote further expansion of private new or renewable energy sources, subsidies will be provided to people who install renewable energy facilities on the rooftops of detached or multi-complex houses, large buildings like supermarkets or department stores, and apartments.

This year’s target is to install solar panels in 197 locations that can produce up to 1,813 kilowatts of electricity. To facilitate this “New and Renewable Energy Supply Project,” a total of 5.1 billion won, including 2.1 billion won from municipal expenses and 1.4 billion won from government expenses, are being invested.

Environmental education for the citizens are also being expanded. A “Suwon Environmental Class Bus” will start operating from September. Professional instructors will visit schools and events to educate the public.

A blueprint to develop the western part of the city will be devised through an integrated plan for the regional development around Suwon Airport.

A vibrant cultural city

Last year, Suwon ended the “The year of Suwon Hwaseong Fortress visit,” and attracted up to 7.2 million tourists for the first time. This year, the city plans to create various cultural and touristic contents that help uphold the city’s reputation as a global and cultural city.

Among the projects being implemented around the Suwon Hwaseong fortress are to increase the value of Suwon’s representative tourist attractions. The reconstruction of Uhwagwan, a guesthouse built in 1789, is one of the secondary reconstruction projects at Hwaseong Haenggung palace that have begun since 2003. Currently, it is undergoing archaeological excavations.

The Hwaseong Cultural Asset District Reorganization Project is still in the progress. In the traditional culture street near Janganmun guest, where the etiquette education center and traditional dietary life experience center are being built, traditional culture facilities and tourist convenience facilities are also being constructed. In March, the Hanok Technology Exhibition Center is to open as well.

Near Hwhahongmun, a Hanok cultural complex will be built. The first stage construction will be completed this year, while the secondary stage will take up another year.

Suwon will continue its “Cultural Specialization District Creating Project” until 2022 that focuses on three areas: liberal arts, historic and civilian culture.

The Liberal Arts City Creation Project will continue until 2018. In September, “Suwon Liberal Arts City Festival” will take place at the Hwaseong Haenggung Square.

The most noticeable sports event that will take place from May 20 to June 11 at Suwon and six other cities is the FIFA U-20 World Cup. With the FIFA U-20 World Cup, Suwon will have hosted games at four major soccer tournaments, including the Confederations Cup, World Cup, and U-17 World Cup.

A heart-warming welfare city

In 2017, Suwon is to spend 666.9 billion won, 33 percent of its total budget, on the social welfare sector. The budget has been increased by 10 percent from last year. The budget for social welfare has more than doubled in the past six years.

The city aims to take preemptive measures for those in need. This year, the “Dong Welfare Linkage Project,” which is playing a large role in improving personalized welfare, is to be expanded. The current project that is being implemented in the 13 largest areas (dongs) will be expanded to ten more industries.

The social welfare centers affiliated with the personalized welfare team are strengthening the public and private case management to reduce blind spots. Also, they are looking into the specific characteristics of the areas that they are in charge of. A “Clean Care Project” is enforced to help clean the houses of those on incomes below 200 percent of the minimum cost of living.

The city also hosts year-round projects that actively seek out low-income individuals and provide them with basic livelihood and medical services.

Welfare policies for women and immigrants aim to realize the true meaning of gender equality, and to allow the immigrants and locals to naturally bond together. To create a female friendly city, the city is promoting 32 projects. Gender sensitive educations are being held for government officials and primary, middle, high school students.

The immigrant policy tries to create a mature multicultural society where the immigrants and locals cohabit together. At the Foreigner Welfare Center, there are around 30 projects, such as Korean language education, consulting and Korean culture experience, that help immigrants adapt to the new environment.

There are also many projects being held to create a “healthy city.” Mental health services are provided in categories for children, teenagers, young adults and the elderly, and centers for school lunches assist with children’s health.

A seamless safe city

Suwon’s efforts to create a safe city have received a children’s safety prize bestowed by the minister of public safety and security and a prize given by the National Police Agency for its activities related to crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED) last year.

With its aim of becoming the safest city in Korea, Suwon is going to push forward more safety policies to reinforce its reputation. The “Suwon Safe Town” project, which improves outdated areas that are vulnerable to crime through crime prevention designs, will be expanded to four areas from last year’s three. The CPTED refers to changing the environment and designs of various areas by remapping street lighting and landscaping, as well as installing CCTV cameras in blind spots for crime detection and prevention.

A total of 440 new CCTV cameras will be installed in 110 blind spots. Also, 220 outdated CCTV cameras will be replaced. The number of CCTV cameras in the city jumped by around tenfold in the past six years.

Following the earthquake of 2.3 magnitude that took place at 2 kilometers south of Gwonseon-gu last October, Suwon is pushing forward the “Anticipative Earthquake Preparation Safety Measure” this year. The seismic capacity assessment of public buildings, bridges and water supply plants that was to be completed by 2020 will be pushed forward to be finished this year. To improve the management of facility safety, regular safety checkups of facilities vulnerable to disaster, such as roads, apartment buildings and large construction sites, will be held as a preventive measure.

By Park Joung-kyu (fob140@heraldcorp.com) 
Yim Ji-min  (jiminy@heraldcorp.com)