Hwaseong Special City Re-examines Necessity of Municipal Court Installation Through 'Hwaseong Issue Report'

[Suwon Ilbo = Reporter Park Chan-hyuk] Hwaseong Special City released its own analysis data to respond to growing judicial demands and raise awareness about the necessity of establishing a Hwaseong Court.

The Hwaseong Research Institute (Director Park Chol-su) published 'Hwaseong Issue Report No. 19' on the 30th, which contains the validity of court installation and future tasks.

The report released on this day defined court services as essential public goods for citizens and diagnosed the reality of Hwaseong City, which has no judicial service bases. It also presented expected benefits from establishing a municipal court as well as medium and long-term implementation tasks.

Notably, Hwaseong City is a basic local government of the largest scale nationwide with a population exceeding 1.04 million, yet it has no basic judicial institutions such as △a court △a registration office △a legal aid office branch.

As a result, Hwaseong citizens must visit the Osan Municipal Court for small claims and consignment cases, and the Suwon District Court for first-instance trials in civil, criminal, administrative, and family matters.

Moreover, citizens must also use the Suwon District Court's Registration Office for registration services, and the Korean Legal Aid Corporation, which offers free legal consultation, requires visiting the Suwon branch.

This reality with fragmented judicial services is increasing citizen inconvenience.

Meanwhile, in a survey conducted in 2023 targeting advisors in Hwaseong City's online policy plaza, approximately 94% of respondents supported the establishment of a municipal court, and about 50,000 citizens participated in a petition drive in the same year urging the establishment of a Hwaseong registration office.

Hwaseong Mayor Jung Myung-geun said, "Hwaseong Special City now needs not just quantitative growth but expansion of quality public services," and added, "The attraction of judicial institutions is an issue directly linked to citizens' quality of life, and the city will pursue this without wavering."