8th International Toilet Culture Conference to Held in Suwon

[Suwon Ilbo = Reporter Jung Jun-sung] The 8th International Toilet Culture Conference and the 6th General Assembly of the World Toilet Association (WTA) will be held in Suwon Special City, known as the 'premium toilet city.'

The WTA will open the 8th International Toilet Culture Conference at the Suwon Convention Center Convention Hall starting at 10 a.m. on the 22nd, and hold the 6th General Assembly on the afternoon of the 23rd in a second-floor conference room to elect the 6th president. From the 23rd to 26th, the 9th World Toilet Leaders Forum (study tour) will take place throughout Suwon.

The conference and general assembly will be attended by approximately 50 delegates from 13 countries including South Korea, the United States, South Africa, Japan, Zambia, and the Philippines.

The International Toilet Culture Conference, jointly hosted by the WTA, Suwon City, and Ajou University, will proceed with a welcome address from Suwon Special City Mayor Lee Jae-joon, a keynote speech by Seoul National University Professor Yoo Ki-hee on the theme 'SDG6 Water and Sanitation,' and thematic presentations.

The presentation topics include: △Laws on public restrooms (Shin Il-chul, Director of Daily Life Space Policy at the Ministry of the Interior and Safety) △Local government restroom policies (Kim Tae-su, Head of Water Quality Total Load Management Division at Gyeonggi Province Water Resources Headquarters) △'Smart Restroom' with automatic health monitoring (Dr. Park Seung-min, Stanford Medical School) △South Korea Restroom Trends (Park Hyun-soon, Chairman of Interbath) △Fecal Standard Money fSM and Science Wilden (Professor Jo Jae-won at UNIST) △Public health and sanitation in developing countries (Dr. Son Ju-hyung, Director of Environmental Geology Division at Korea Rural Community Corporation) △CLTS Case Study (Community-Led Total Sanitation: Lee Cho-ran, Coordinator at Good Neighbors International Health Team) △Dry Toilet (water-free restroom: Senior Researcher Shervin Hasemi at Yonsei University College of Medicine Environmental Pollution Research Institute) △Rainwater intake and recycled water systems (Park Myung-gyun, Vice President at Haesung Engineering) and others.

The WTA will hold the 13th Board of Directors Meeting at 1:30 p.m. on the 23rd in the second-floor conference room of the Suwon Convention Center, and will hold the 6th General Assembly at 3 p.m. The 6th president will be elected at the general assembly that day.

The WTA was established based on a proposal by the late Shim Jae-deok (1939–2009), former Suwon Mayor during the 1st and 2nd elected terms, who was so devoted to the toilet culture movement that he was called 'Mr. Toilet.' Former Mayor Shim first proposed the establishment of the 'World Toilet Association' at the 6th World Toilet Representatives Conference held in 2006, and the following November, the WTA founding general assembly was held in Seoul.

The WTA, which aims to improve public health and hygiene standards worldwide through clean restrooms, is implementing the 'Restroom of Hope Project,' which constructs public restrooms in developing countries where restroom facilities are insufficient and sanitation environments are poor.

The organization also holds the 'World Toilet Leaders Forum' and the 'World Toilet Culture Youth Forum,' and continues to conduct research activities including surveys of basic sanitation facilities worldwide and development of sustainable restroom models. It has established 'World Toilet Technical Standards' and is carrying out cooperative projects with international organizations and private organizations at home and abroad, including the UN and KOICA (Korea International Cooperation Agency).

Meanwhile, Suwon City has solidified its status as a 'premium toilet city' by winning 27 awards in the Ministry of the Interior and Safety-sponsored 'Beautiful Restroom Contest.' Beginning with the 'Gwanggyo Mountain Firefly Restroom' winning the grand prize in the first contest (1999), the 'Gwanggyo Central Park Restroom' (2015) and the 'Restroom Next to the Art Museum' (2020) were also selected as grand prize winners.