New Year's Address Mayor Kwak Sang-wook of Osan

Respected citizens of Osan, all 240,000 of you!

And public officials!

Leaving behind a truly difficult 2020, a new year of hope in 2021, the Year of the Ox (辛丑年), has dawned. As we welcome this hopeful new year, I wish that health and good fortune fill the homes of all our citizens and public officials, and that all your endeavors come to fruition as you wish.

I offer my deepest gratitude once again to each and every citizen who showed special interest in and unwavering support for city administration last year. The past year will be recorded as a year of massive global transformation in all aspects due to COVID-19, which shook the entire world. As the COVID-19 pandemic spreads, the daily lives of people around the world have been fundamentally changed, and the global economy and international order are undergoing enormous changes. I believe that the past year has been a time of true hardship and trial for all of us.

Yet amid all this, our Republic of Korea—with the government, people, and local governments united as one—has implemented the world's most exemplary response known as "K-quarantine," and our Osan City has demonstrated the most exemplary quarantine measures through various means including the distribution of Ttaseom masks, revitalizing the local economy through regional currency implemented most efficiently, and tailored quarantine support at educational and childcare facilities. Our case was even introduced as a best practice example to more than 250 UNESCO Lifelong Learning Cities around the world.

I wish to express my heartfelt gratitude once more to the medical personnel and staff of Osan City who dedicated themselves to protecting the lives and health of citizens on the frontlines of quarantine, to our public officials who engaged in quarantine and prevention efforts, and to our citizens who bore the inconveniences of daily life and economic losses while joining forces for quarantine. With vaccine development and vaccination beginning in earnest in some countries, and treatment development making progress, the long days of suffering are now seeing their end. Let us persevere, strive, exercise restraint, and overcome this difficult period together.

Respected citizens!

With the beginning of the seventh term of elected leadership, the core agenda and goal of Osan City administration has been "A happier Osan where people shine." I have set the major policy directions of city administration as follows: job creation and revitalization of the local economy, establishment of a happy welfare culture, establishment of a bright 100-year education city for the future, construction of safe, healthy, and convenient living infrastructure, and establishment of a healing green city through ecological and environmental restoration. I have stated that we will build the foundation for the future beyond a 30-year young Osan.

Due to the sudden COVID-19 crisis, citizens have been exhausted by economic difficulties, and public officials, pouring all their efforts into related tasks such as emergency rescue financing, disaster basic income, and vulnerable population support, have also had an extremely difficult year.

Nevertheless, I wish to emphasize that the past year was one in which we made all efforts to implement the stated policy directions and achieved many accomplishments. Above all, the area we focused most on last year was revitalizing the local economy depressed by COVID-19 and creating jobs. We actively promoted management environment improvement funds for small business owners, support for store reopening, special guarantees and interest rate support, and distributed Osan City disaster basic income entirely as local currency "Osakbit" to be used only within the city, enabling the small business economy to circulate.

Through the implementation of new hope job programs and regional job programs, we provided public sector jobs to 2,168 people, strengthened young people's employment capacity through the three-stage youth internship program, university student job programs, and the "Social Economy Youth Kanguru Program." The newly opened youth job café U-Jobs and youth customized workshop also played a major role. As a result of these efforts, Osan was selected as an exemplary local government in the job and employment improvement category at the Manifesto Awards evaluating local governments nationwide.

The education sector, which has become Osan's city brand, was greatly affected by COVID-19, but paradoxically, through many new attempts, it became a year in which Osan as an education city matured further. We experienced a period of confusion as school opening was postponed and face-to-face classes were replaced with online classes. However, students, teachers, citizens, and the community of Osan education city pursued warm companionship through the "Ttaseom Mask Sharing Project," and through support for remote and online/offline class equipment and content, and through childcare support, uninterrupted education was provided. We declared "AI Special City Based on Education" for a groundbreaking qualitative leap in Osan education, and established cooperation systems with Kwangwoon University, Korea University of Science and Technology, and enterprises. In particular, the new vision of "Osan, an AI Special City Based on Education," will serve as the future direction for all fields in Osan.

Based on the citizen-led innovative library "Osan Gohyeon Elementary Dream Growth Library," the "Osan Village Education Community" was established, serving as a starting point for the entire Osan region to grow as a village education community. We were selected as a "Lifelong Learning City for People with Disabilities" by the government, developing customized programs and improving learner accessibility, thereby establishing a careful and inclusive lifelong learning foundation. Despite COVID-19, we declared UNESCO Green Learning City, held a future education international forum, jointly declared a future education city with Osan City, the National Education Council, and the Ministry of Education, held the National Innovative Education Local Government Council Forum, and hosted the "Osan Lifelong Learning Neighborhood Festival." The past year was truly meaningful in achieving substantive development in Osan education.

We also vigorously promoted major projects laying the foundation for Osan's future. The long-awaited Jungmisan Peace Park project in Osan was completed, and a historic opening ceremony was held with many distinguished guests from home and abroad. The City Hall Natural Ecological Experience Center, a new creative administrative model combining public space and private investment for introducing plaza culture in the era of public facility accessibility, has been completed and awaits opening. The miniature theme park and pet theme park, which will emerge Osan as a tourism hub, have begun full-scale construction.

We concluded a business agreement with the Hyundai Engineering Consortium to develop Unam-ttul, Osan's gateway and transportation hub, into a premium complex in Gyeonggi Province's southern region, and began preparations for designating the urban development project area. For Unam-ttul, we plan to construct a smart city and knowledge industry centers centered on the 4th industrial revolution to attract world-class IT companies and form an advanced industrial and research cluster. The multipurpose cultural and sports center and disaster safety experience center are also under construction with completion targeted for the first half of this year.

The welfare, childbirth, and childcare sectors are where Osan performs best. With tailored welfare policies where no one is left behind, we have received the Ministry of Health and Welfare Welfare Administration Award for five consecutive years, and with tailored welfare measures for diverse types of childcare families, we have been selected as a low birth rate excellent policy local government for two consecutive years. By additionally deploying dedicated teachers for extended childcare at daycare centers, improving childcare quality, implementing the Osan Dream Center, creating the EBS children's play town in Namchon-dong, expanding national and public daycare centers to achieve 40% public childcare rate, and operating comprehensive childcare support centers, we have become the top model city in the childcare sector. In particular, Osan's Dream Playground, directly planned and designed by children, was recognized as a best practice by UNICEF and distributed globally and to local governments nationwide through promotional videos.

Osan's goal is to become the city with the best childcare. As a leading local government in building an all-day childcare ecosystem, we have established the most Maul Together Growth Centers in Gyeonggi Province, creating a city-wide childcare system where elementary students can safely enjoy rest and leisure after school. Going forward, we will develop Osan's unique childcare model to lead the resolution of the national challenge of low birth rates.

There was also great progress in ecological environment. Not only have otters returned to Osan, but it has been confirmed that they are even breeding in Osan-cheon River. Otters born and raised in Osan, true Osan otters, have appeared. Following Osan-cheon River, Gwol-dong River has also been restored ecologically. Water quality has further improved through dredging and restoration of the Gireung Reservoir upstream, the source of water quality problems, and replacement of sewage pipes in Jangji-cheon and Joungni-cheon Rivers. Full-scale work to develop Gajang-cheon, starting from Seodong Reservoir, as Segyo District 2's most beautiful walking trail has been launched. Osan-cheon River is now home to over 240 species of vegetation, with otters and mandarin ducks thriving, and recently even gold-banded frogs have been discovered in the Gajang-cheon wetland. With 88 citizen gardens created, it has truly become a premier ecological river cutting through the city.

We made careful efforts to improve citizen safety and public living infrastructure including transportation facilities. Our city's proud Smart City Integrated Operations Center has realized 100% replacement of surveillance CCTV cameras with 2-megapixel cameras and introduced an AI smart control system, creating a smart safe city environment where citizens can travel with confidence. We established a new metropolitan bus route (Line 5200) between Osan and Gangnam, strengthening transportation accessibility for residents of Gohyeon-dong and Chungho-dong areas as well as new apartment complexes in Busandong and Oesanimi-dong. By increasing Route 1311 B metropolitan bus service and operating the G6010 route from Osan Station to Sanggal Station, accessibility from Osan to Shinbundang Line has been greatly improved.

We have secured 1,725 parking spaces at 15 key locations, greatly improving parking shortages. We completed the expansion of Unam public parking garage and finished Eoullim (covered river) public parking garage and parking facilities in Munhwa-gil, Sucheong-dong, and Gwol-dong, thereby revitalizing the surrounding commercial districts and resolving chronic illegal parking around shops and residences. In addition, the Dongtan TRAM project from Dongtan to Osan Station has also begun in earnest.

The citizen-participatory village garden project, which began in 2018, completed the third project, Wondong Flower Village Garden, following the first Seoma Art Garden and second Maeol Dure Village Garden. It was selected for the Living SOC improvement project and completed the remodeling of Wondong Third Children's Park. The Maeol Dure Village Garden even received the Gyeonggi Province Village Garden Award.

We also created innovative dream playgrounds where children, residents, and administration work together in harmony, departing from uniform existing playgrounds. We significantly improved the landscape of National Route 1 and the sanctuary climate change response forest project in Segyo District received the Minister of Environment's top award. We are also proceeding with the blue forest garden project jointly with LH in Segyo District 2.

We are greatly expanding living sports facilities. We are creating a 10-court tennis facility in Segyo District 2, an all-weather 6-court indoor tennis facility at Jungmi Park, a 12-court dedicated indoor badminton court in Segyo District 2, and 3-on-3 dedicated basketball courts capable of hosting international competitions at the lower level of the Jungmi multipurpose stadium, targeted for completion in the first half of this year.

In October last year, as part of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's Urban Regeneration New Deal project, the "Saejangter Eoulter, Hwamok Village" project in Gwol-dong was selected, securing 10.8 billion won in national and provincial funds—wonderful news indeed. Based on these precious administrative accomplishments achieved over the past year, our city received the 2020 Republic of Korea's Most Trusted CEO Administrative Innovation Management Award, and further achieved the remarkable feat of being selected as the highest grade for seven consecutive years in the Korea Manifesto Foundation's promise fulfillment evaluation for heads of basic local governments.

The accomplishments in various fields including education, childcare, transportation, ecological environment, safety, taxation, and tax collection last year are the result of the dedicated efforts and creative administration of our public officials, but above all, of the unlimited trust citizens placed in city administration, joining us in every step of the process and providing unlimited encouragement, support, and guidance.

I am confident that this was a year that demonstrated Osan City's brightest and most powerful administrative capability since its founding.

Respected citizens!

And public officials!

As we enter the new year, while the end of the tunnel is now visible, I hope to create the most intense and dedicated year in which we overcome COVID-19 and establish a new Osan that responds to the post-COVID-19 future, restoring citizen economy and citizens' lives to normalcy and beyond.

This year's city administration goals can be divided into five major directions.

First, we will revitalize and expand Osan's economy and citizen jobs in a future-oriented manner, far beyond simply returning to pre-COVID-19 levels.

While it is currently difficult to accurately determine when COVID-19 vaccines will begin full-scale administration in Korea, it is generally expected that vaccination will occur in the first quarter at the earliest and we will enter the "post-COVID-19" period during the second quarter. The most urgent task is to revive the local economy that has fallen into long-term stagnation and recreate jobs so that citizens can maintain household economies through employment. We will establish a base for employment stability for job-vulnerable populations through public-sector jobs and create a stable job environment through job-related infrastructure construction.

We will expand the scale and targets of management environment improvement funds, interest rate support, and special guarantee support for small business owner recovery, and newly implement demolition cost support for closed shops to minimize secondary damage from business closures. In response to structural changes in the job market caused by COVID-19, we will open non-contact business expert training courses and pursue contract-based job opportunities for self-employed individuals and those seeking remote work. We will also pursue financial support for LH Happy Housing to ensure housing stability for youth and newlyweds.

We will support youth job opportunities for non-face-to-face school classes and open a second U-Jobs youth job café location to operate as a multi-purpose facility exclusively for youth. In the currently under-construction TEG Campus Venture Town, we will establish spaces for youth entrepreneurship and job creation education and provide comprehensive startup support.

Through robust support for the public delivery app "Delivery Express," we will reduce delivery commissions for small business owners and ensure benefits reach both franchisees and consumers equally.

Through support for the 100-year-old Osan Osaegsijang Market, we will enhance competitiveness against large discount stores, while developing the national representative craft beer festival "Wild Beer Festival" into a festival for the world, solidifying its status as a nationally representative cultural and tourism market. We will create the former Osan Culture Street as a "Beauty Specialty Street" and implement various measures including creating beauty pop-up stores in connection with cosmetics companies, universities, and cosmetics research institutes.

Second, we will continue building welfare and childcare culture where citizens live together happily, paying even more careful attention to the welfare of vulnerable groups made more difficult by COVID-19 and to child daycare, a national imperative.

The biggest social problem caused by COVID-19 is the intensification of the phenomenon of "the rich get richer, the poor get poorer." Prioritizing people with disabilities in vulnerable groups, we will carefully examine whether the welfare system has any gaps so that difficult neighbors including youth, children, elderly, and women are not excluded, and we will create a warm welfare environment where a culture of sharing spreads. To encourage childbirth, we will expand support for multi-child families, and we will continuously pursue support for stable settlement and living of multi-cultural families and child daycare support programs. We will establish the Osan Dream Center, a complex early childhood culture, education, and experience space in areas with low childcare facility ratios, construct the EBS children's playground in Namchon-dong, and create a childcare town in Chopyeong-dong where nature is present, ensuring that everyone receives quality public childcare services without being left behind.

Through daycare demand analysis using big data, we will continue expanding the installation of Maul Together Growth Centers and implement distinctive policies such as neighbor childcare and gap childcare to realize the Osan model of all-day childcare and become the premier leading city in childcare in reality and name. We will expand creative playgrounds from our current count to 10, allowing Osan's children to play in playgrounds with dreams throughout the city. We will complete the Osan Senior Club, a dedicated organization for elderly employment, providing appropriate jobs for seniors and helping them engage in diverse social activities.

Third, in the advanced development stage of Osan as an education city, we will activate the network of "Osan Village Education Community" where truly "the entire village is a school."

Over the past decade, Osan as an education city has earned recognition from all parties and has even achieved environmental changes leading to the recovery of settlement. This year, based on the educational philosophy and vision direction developed thus far, we will establish the framework for Osan's future education through "activation of the village education community" incorporating four core values.

The four core values are: autonomy education, which realizes student autonomy and educational autonomy through strengthening local education; connection education, which connects schools and villages, students and citizens; future education, which encompasses past, present, and future; and responsibility education, where no one faces discrimination. Through autonomy, connection, future, and responsibility education, where learning connects to life, we will realize "Osan, an education city where the entire village is school" and "Osan, a mega city of future education."

The Osan Career and Academic Counseling Center Dream Way will establish Korea's first "career history presentation system" and provide career guidance processes suited to the 4th industrial revolution era where data utilization leads the world. The Osan Maker Education Center and the newly built TEG Campus will be operated as future education hubs for students and citizens through creative spaces for youth where industry and universities are linked.

We will build and expand an AI-related education-industry-culture network so that all students and citizens can receive customized education responding to the AI era and enjoy AI-based public systems throughout Osan. Through developing lifelong learning models by life cycle including youth and middle-aged persons, we will expand the foundation of democratic citizenship capacity education blooming more deeply through expansion reaching all citizens' lives and through expanded customized lifelong learning for people with disabilities, we will promote lifelong learning where no one is excluded.

Fourth, we will expand social infrastructure so that citizens enjoy safe, healthy, and convenient lives.

To prepare for the spread of infectious diseases like COVID-19, we will designate private medical institutions' respiratory clinics and add additional screening clinics to take all precautions in responding to infectious disease crises. In particular, we will prepare well for the opening of the "Gyeonggi Province National Safety Experience Center" to be completed this year.

We will newly establish specialized circular routes centered on Osan Station Transit Center and each subway station to serve tourist areas and transportation-vulnerable areas, additionally introduce electric low-floor buses, and construct comprehensive metropolitan transit networks to create Osan as a city without public transportation inconvenience. We will prioritize the creation of public parking lots in Gasan 1st Industrial Complex, Naesanimi-dong, and Osan-cheon River to facilitate parking at the industrial complex, Eoseoreosan Rest Center, Osanjangter, and the multipurpose cultural and sports center.

For the "Saejangter Eoulter, Hwamok Village" project in Gwol-dong selected for the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's Urban Regeneration New Deal project, we will connect it with Osan-cheon's ecological river to transform the neglected Gwol-dong's residential welfare and living environment into a beautiful garden village and improve quality of life through community activation.

We will complete the multipurpose cultural and sports center in the first half of this year to replace the old, worn-out civic hall and assume responsibility for citizens' health and cultural life. By removing the tennis courts and creating upper level rest areas, gardens, and stages, along with Osan-cheon public parking, bicycle rental, and cafés, we will transform it into a destination attracting citizens from neighboring areas in the metropolitan region to Osan-cheon and linking to Osaegsijang Market, achieving a two-in-one victory for local commerce recovery and rebirth as a landmark.

Fifth, with the ecological restoration of the Osan-cheon water system entering its final stages, we will further sophisticate management and transform all of Osan into a healing green city model.

Osan-cheon is truly Osan's treasure. Now, the leading force in ecological restoration of Osan-cheon and ecological and environmental stewardship of Osan City is citizens. Through fervent citizen participation, over 120 citizen-participatory village gardens along Osan-cheon have given great inspiration to all. At year-end last year, Osan City was selected as the final host city for "the 10th Gyeonggi Garden Culture Expo 2022"—a remarkable achievement. We will successfully host the garden culture expo with citizens by linking Osan-cheon riverside and Maelgeum Park, and develop Osan gardens to advance further to national gardens. We will create street tree infilling, strip greens, and flower bridges on National Route 1 and plant colorful flowers in traffic islands and central medians so that with each step people take, flowers and gardens continue throughout Osan.

Last year's greatest blessing for Osan-cheon was the appearance of baby otters. We will secure 5.5 billion won in national funds to promote the construction of a metropolitan otter protection center that protects and researches otters returned to citizens' care. We will effectively utilize the image of Osan as an otter-inhabited ecological city to create economic spillover effects and establish it as a space for citizen and student ecological experience and education.

We will ensure completion of the major project of the bicycle superhighway connecting the Han River through Osan-cheon to Pyeongtaek Lake, promoted by Osan City in cooperation with Gyeonggi Province and neighboring local governments. We will create bicycle rest areas throughout Osan-cheon and foster Osan as a bicycle tour-centered city.

Respected and beloved citizens of Osan, all 240,000 of you!

And thousand-plus public officials!

This year, as we can now see the light at the end of the tunnel and as COVID-19 comes to an end, we face the task of not only restoring citizen economy and citizens' lives to normalcy, but beyond that, achieving new urban development responding to the future of post-COVID-19.

In particular, I ask you to pay attention to the new vision we proclaimed last year: "Osan, an Education-Based AI Special City." This is Osan's version of the "Korean New Deal," the future development strategy proclaimed by the central government for post-COVID-19.

Through big data-based policy decision-making, future education responding to the 4th industrial revolution, smart reorganization of urban structure including Unam-ttul, professional development for creating future-type jobs, big data-based welfare, childcare, and childcare support, and smart city safety and transportation—we will exercise the highest level of creative and sophisticated administration to build a competitive and powerful Osan in the revolutionary era of the 4th industry.

I am confident that the vision of "Osan, an Education-Based AI Special City" will lead Osan as a future city at the forefront of the Korean New Deal.

This year in particular, along with the completed City Hall Natural Ecological Experience Center, many projects will be completed that will establish Osan as the greatest education, Korean Wave, and tourism hub in Gyeonggi Province's southern region: the miniature theme park, pet theme park, multipurpose cultural and sports center, and disaster safety experience center.

Citizens will fully enjoy the multi-faceted benefits that these projects will bring to living, culture, tourism, economy, education, health, and ecology. Myself and the thousand-plus public officials will dedicate ourselves to serving citizens with the resolve of "sacrificing life to uphold righteousness," focusing only on citizens and advancing forward. Citizens are great. That great power cannot be stopped or broken by anyone.

The year 2021 of the seventh term of elected leadership will be a year that shines brilliantly as we successfully overcome COVID-19 and achieve the greatest leap forward.

I ask for your continued unwavering support and participation from citizens throughout the new year, and I wish that health and good fortune abundantly fill the homes of all citizens throughout 2021, the Year of the Ox (辛丑年).

Wishing you much blessing in the new year.

Thank you.

Morning of the 2021 New Year

Mayor Kwak Sang-wook of Osan