New Year's Address Hwaseong Mayor Seo Chol-mo

Esteemed 890,000 citizens of Hwaseong! And fellow public officials!

The new year of 2022, the Year of the Tiger, has dawned.

In the Year of the Black Tiger, a symbol of bravery and strength, I hope you will recover the simple happiness and comfort that everyday life brings and welcome the new year filled with hope.

Despite the recurring COVID-19 crisis, I sincerely thank the citizens for actively cooperating in quarantine and vaccination efforts, the medical professionals and volunteers dedicated at quarantine sites, and the public officials doing their best to prevent community transmission.

During the seventh term of mayoral governance, Hwaseong has endeavored to lay the foundation for a sustainable city based on three major administrative policies: a citizen-centered autonomous city, a sharing city where we are together, and a future city with sound growth, under the slogan "Pleasant Change, Happy Hwaseong." While focusing on the internal growth of a rapidly developing city, we have mobilized all administrative capacity and done our best to protect citizens' lives and safety from COVID-19, which no one could have anticipated, and to recover the disrupted daily life and local economy.

Despite these internal and external difficulties and challenges, thanks to citizens' voluntary participation and generous support, the city council's active and swift cooperation, and public officials' commitment to their duties, we have been able to advance to become a representative city of the Republic of Korea.

Esteemed citizens and public officials of Hwaseong!

During the seventh term, Hwaseong has worked diligently to implement direct democracy through systems such as the Hwaseong Citizens Regional Council and the Online Citizens Policy Advisory Board, which allow citizens to voluntarily participate in city administration. We have also endeavored to nurture Hwaseong's future assets by creating urban environments where people and nature coexist and actively participating in responding to the global climate crisis to establish a sustainable urban foundation.

2022 is the year to conclude the seventh term of mayoral governance. We must complete the projects we promised to citizens by inheriting the accomplishments and tasks of the seventh term, while making this the first year to recover our ordinary daily lives and the first year for twenty-year-old young Hwaseong to make a new leap forward.

To this end, we will first create "a city good for raising children."

The fact that our city has the youngest population and the highest number of infants and toddlers among all basic local governments nationwide signifies high growth potential and potential, and also demonstrates the importance of creating an environment where future leaders, our children, can be safely born and raised.

We will promote "Eight Major Projects for a Child-Friendly Hwaseong" tailored to different life stages including pregnancy, childbirth, childcare, and education, and will create a family-friendly city centered on the newly established Children's Love Division.

Second, we will devote ourselves to revitalizing the local economy and recovering the people's livelihoods.

It is most urgent to breathe vitality into lives hardened by COVID-19 and to implement measures to recover ordinary daily life and revitalize the local economy, particularly by supporting the recovery and normalization of damage to small merchants and self-employed business owners suffering greatly from quarantine measures and supporting the livelihoods of socially vulnerable groups.

To overcome this situation, we will expand special guarantees for small and medium businesses, issue 300 billion won worth of Happy Hwaseong local currency to revitalize traditional markets and alleyway commerce, thereby promoting the virtuous cycle and activation of the local economy.

Third, we will create "a city good for business" to enhance corporate competitiveness and the city's growth engine.

Enterprises contribute to industry and economic development, strengthen the economic foundation of the local community, and enrich the material foundation of self-sufficient cities.

To fulfill that role, we will establish new industrial strategies centered on the Hwaseong Industrial Promotion Agency to strengthen industrial competitiveness, foster talent for promoting the semiconductor industry, a future growth engine, and establish an industrial foundation to elevate the city's status while laying the groundwork for K-semiconductor success.

Fourth, we will create "a city where participation and autonomy are guaranteed," where citizens respect each other and communicate smoothly.

We will stabilize communication systems that guarantee citizen participation and rights, reorganize opinion-gathering and decision-making systems such as the Online Citizens Policy Advisory Board, and lead the way in implementing direct democracy.

We will also create an environment where volunteering and social contribution become part of daily life and such efforts and practices are respected, allowing social value to permeate our lives and homes while advancing toward a volunteer city that beautifies the local community.

Fifth, we will create "a safe and warm city" where no one is excluded or discriminated against.

Protecting the lives and safety of citizens is the most important responsibility of local government. We will strengthen systems to enhance living safety and eliminate blind spots in crime prevention, respond seamlessly to infectious diseases and various disasters, and do our best to protect citizens' lives.

We will eliminate unfairness and discrimination that hinder social integration, reduce income gaps and inequality through inclusive recovery and citizen-centered warm welfare policies, and move toward healing, recovery, and a warm community.

Esteemed citizens and public officials of Hwaseong!

The population that was 720,000 at the beginning of the seventh term has now exceeded 890,000. Reflecting the highest number of permits and licenses nationwide and the characteristics of a rural-urban complex city, we will promote tailored policies suited to regional characteristics, including implementing administrative system reforms to actively and flexibly respond to the surging administrative demands in various fields.

We will ensure that newly designated public residential sites, Jinan District and Bongdam 3 District, are developed with citizens' interests at heart, and will do our best to have Shinbundang Line (Homaesil-Bongdam), Seoul Metropolitan Subway Line (Dongtan-Cheongju Airport), and Shin-Ansan Line (Songsan-Namyang-Hyangnam) extensions with Hyangnam extension and GTX-C extension with Byeongjeom extension reflected in government plans for early construction, thereby maximizing efforts for citizen-centered urban development and expansion of social infrastructure.

We will preserve Hwaseong Lake Wetland, a eco-friendly leisure retreat for 25 million people in the Seoul metropolitan area, continue to pursue a thorough re-examination of Suwon Military Airport, and ensure that regional priority projects such as Hwaseong International Theme Park, Dongtan Tram, Children's Science Museum, Gyeongbu Expressway straightening project, Dongtan Station Transit Center construction, Hwaseong Independence Movement Memorial Hall and Historical Cultural Park, and projects directly linked to improved quality of life proceed without delay.

Esteemed citizens and public officials of Hwaseong!

In the new year, we will pursue "Byeongjeom Original City Center Activation Master Plan" to achieve mutual development of Jinan New City and Byeongjeom New Town, and through the construction of Byeongjeom Station Transit Center with public cultural complex functions, we will secure east-west mobility around Byeongjeom Station area and cultivate a hub space for transit transportation in the eastern region. We will also make greater efforts to improve residential environments by linking urban regeneration projects for city activation and the relocation of Aju Remicon, a facility causing regional conflicts, to develop surrounding areas into multi-family housing.

In addition to Byeongjeom original city center development, we will establish sequential development plans for the original city center areas such as Hwasan-dong where slumification is anticipated, to address problems caused by regional imbalances and original city center decline, thereby ensuring all citizens can lead happy and stable lives.

In the new year, the groundbreaking of Hwaseong International Theme Park and large-scale development projects in new and original city centers will proceed, bringing expectations and hopes higher than ever, while conflicting interests have created many sources of conflict.

To prevent projects promoted for Hwaseong's development from escalating into conflicts between residents and regions, we will share sufficient communication and information, think from citizens' perspectives and cooperate, minimize damage and provide sufficient compensation for sacrifice, and do our best to enhance citizens' benefits and interests.

I am grateful and thankful to the citizens who trusted the city and united their strength even in times of national crisis. I will repay your trust by doing my best until the end of the seventh term.

Finally, all public officials including myself will thoroughly prepare and manage to ensure that the 20th presidential election and the 8th nationwide local elections are conducted fairly and cleanly.

I hope that the new year of 2022, the Year of the Tiger, will be a year of great achievement in the many things you wish for, and I pray that health and happiness will be with the families of all citizens and public officials.

Wishing you a prosperous new year. Thank you.

January 1, 2022
Mayor of Hwaseong, Seo Chol-mo