Suwon to Immediately Remove Illegal Banners Including Politicians' 'Holiday Greetings'

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Seo Dong-young] As the Lunar New Year holiday approaches, Suwon announced on the 16th that it will remove illegal banners displaying ‘holiday greetings’ from political parties and politicians as soon as they are discovered.

The city, which has declared ‘war on illegal banners,’ has decided to immediately remove holiday greeting banners from political parties and politicians that have been conventionally installed throughout the streets upon detection and enforcement action.

Recently, the city sent official documents to National Assembly members, provincial council members, city council members, and various political parties requesting cooperation, stating “Please refrain from posting illegal banners.”

The 21st National Assembly elections are scheduled for April this year, and illegal banners are expected to proliferate throughout the streets. The city will apply a ‘zero-tolerance principle’ and remove banners from political parties and politicians without exception if they are illegal. The same applies to illegal banners posted for public purposes or by religious and civic organizations.

All banners posted on street trees, traffic lights, utility poles, and other locations not designated by the city as posting facilities are illegal. According to outdoor advertising laws, banners can only be installed on lawful posting facilities.

Complaints have continued regarding how illegal banners promoting apartment sales, political parties, and politicians damage the urban landscape and obstruct pedestrian traffic. Since October last year, the city has intensified enforcement against illegal banners. The city is mobilizing full personnel for concentrated cleanup not only on weekdays but also on holidays and nights.

Until 4 p.m., approximately 20 maintenance service workers from four district offices patrol the city to remove illegal banners. From 4 p.m. through the night, the ‘Clean Keepers,’ composed of outdoor advertising operators in the city, conduct enforcement operations.

Additionally, starting this year, the city has expanded participation in the ‘citizen collection compensation program,’ which provides compensation to citizens who collect illegal advertisements. The eligibility for the collection compensation program, which was limited to those ‘60 years old and above’ through last year, has been relaxed to ‘20 years old and above’ starting in January. Citizens can visit their neighborhood administrative welfare center with collected illegal advertisements, identification, a copy of their personal bank account (for initial applications), and an application form. Submissions must be made once a week on days designated by the administrative welfare center.

Compensation amounts are 1,000 won per banner (per sheet thereafter), 300 won for standard posters, 500 won for sticker-type posters, 100 won for standard flyers, and 50 won per business card-type flyer. Compensation is transferred to the applicant's account after a verification process. Compensation is capped at a maximum of 500,000 won per month. Collection targets include banners (including scroll and flag types) attached to utility poles, street trees, and street light poles, stickers, posters, flyers dumped along roadsides, and business card-type advertisements.