Suwon Ranked 1st Among Cities in 'Green City' National Competition

▲ Mayor Kim Yong-seo receiving the Prime Minister's commendation from Minister of Environment Gwak Gyeol-ho

Suwon City received the Prime Minister's commendation by ranking 1st among cities in the first national competition for Outstanding Environmental Management Municipalities (Green City).

The awards ceremony held on the afternoon of the 19th at the Damyang County Cultural Center in South Jeolla Province was attended by approximately 500 people, including Environment Minister Gwak Gyeol-ho, high-ranking officials from central and local governments nationwide, Lee Jin, Standing Chair of the National Council of Local Agenda 21, Yun Yang-soo, President of the Korea Environmental Policy Society, Hong Sung-joo, Head of SBS Programming Division and representatives of co-organizing agencies, as well as leaders of 13 award-winning municipalities.

During the awards ceremony, Minister Gwak stated in his opening remarks: "The purpose of the Green City system is to actively discover and support excellent environmental policies of municipalities, thereby establishing exemplary environmental policies of international renown from our country and spreading them so that environmentally-friendly administration takes root in each municipality."

The Green City competition, implemented for the first time this year, evaluated sustainable environmental development capacity through first-round document screening and second-round on-site inspections of 83 municipalities, comprehensively considering environmental infrastructure and environmental policies.

Suwon City received the designation as a Green City in recognition of its achievements in the "Integrated Water Management Policy" project implemented based on perfect environmental infrastructure.

The city has been continuously carrying out "Restoring the Former Appearance of Suwon Stream" movement and "Woncheon Stream Restoration Civic Network" activities.

In particular, the watershed environmental management project pursued by Samsung Electronics and Suwon City through the Woncheon Stream Restoration Civic Network activities has achieved visible results, being included in the OECD Multinational Enterprise Guidelines environmental section manual.

Additionally, the city is pursuing operations of a wastewater treatment plant handling 520,000 tons daily, ISO 14001 certification, designation as a drinking water testing institution, water rate rationalization, and water supply pipe network blockization projects.

Mayor Kim Yong-seo, who received the Prime Minister's commendation, presented an excellent policy presentation on the implementation of integrated water management policy, stating: "With this Green City designation as an opportunity, by establishing an urban ecological network and developing a water circulation-type natural eco-city, I will make Suwon a 'world-class eco-environmental city of water'," presenting an environmental vision.