New Year's Address in Full Suwon Mayor Yim Tae-young

Dear 1.2 million citizens of Suwon.

The New Year of 2015, the Year of the Sheep (乙未年), has dawned. Our ancestors worshipped the sheep as an animal symbolizing goodness, righteousness, and beauty. As we enter the Year of the Blue Sheep, I hope that all Suwon citizens will have a year filled with the wisdom of the sheep.

2014 was a year in which we steadily implemented large-scale projects that would become turning points in Suwon's development. By attracting the Suwon High Court and Family Court, we laid the groundwork for providing the best legal services. With the launch of professional baseball's 10th team, KT-WIZ, this year will see the opening of the professional baseball season held in Suwon.

Furthermore, we are pushing ahead without delay on projects that will shape Suwon's future, including the relocation of Suwon Airfield, the Agriculture and Fisheries Culture Experience and Exhibition Hall, and the R&D Science Park. This was possible because our "great citizens" stood with us. I offer my sincere gratitude for that support.

Dear 1.2 million citizens of Suwon.

Do you remember the "huddling" of penguins featured in a documentary aired some years ago, "Tears of Antarctica - Emperor of the Ice Continent," which moved many viewers? When fierce snowstorms and strong winds blow across Antarctica, penguins huddle together, forming circles and exchanging body heat with one another, moving from the outside to the inside and from the inside to the outside through "huddling" to sustain their lives. In this way, penguins embrace each other and overcome winter together.

With the New Year upon us, the ongoing economic slowdown suggests that the lives of our ordinary citizens will not be easy. In such times, we must follow the penguins' example of "huddling" and demonstrate the virtues of cooperation and consideration to overcome these difficulties together. Our city will also work to add warmth to citizens' lives, like the warm underfloor heating of traditional homes.

To break down the walls of prejudice and bias between the "strong" and the "weak," we will redouble our efforts in communication and participation. We will further activate citizen-centered city administration policies that communicate with citizens from the design phase of policy, including citizen planning committees for urban development, 300-person roundtable discussions, and resident participatory budgeting.

We will also strengthen open city administration that broadly listens to citizens' opinions through community-focused field discussion forums and implementation of civil complaint service quality evaluations, nurturing citizens' rights from the citizens' perspective. Additionally, we will create a Suwon where future generations can live with confidence.

We will take the lead in promoting Suwon as a special metropolitan city with a population of over 1 million to enhance our city's future value and provide better administrative services to citizens, and in implementing our city as a leader in self-governing decentralization for the establishment of true local autonomy. We will also promote, in line with citizens' wishes, the increase of electoral districts and administrative division adjustments for our city, which has suffered disadvantages from the existing electoral district delineation, in accordance with constitutional court decisions.

I would like to outline the main policy directions for 2015.

First, we will prioritize urban safety and create a city where all citizens can live safely. We will establish a control tower for citizen safety and make every effort to prevent various disasters and crimes that threaten public safety.

Additionally, to prevent a recurrence of recent unfortunate incidents, we will strengthen special patrol operations in crime-vulnerable areas and create safe villages utilizing CPTED techniques to prevent crime in areas with high concentrations of foreign residents.

We will operate safe commute road managers so that women can return home with peace of mind, and we will install additional high-definition CCTV to actively address citizens' safety concerns.

Second, we will create a city with the highest employment rate through sustainable job creation. By building the Suwon Convention Center, the R&D Science Park, and completing the second phase of the Suwon Industrial Complex 3, we will expand the Suwon economy and simultaneously create 160,000 sustainable jobs during the sixth private sector administration. We will gradually expand permanent employment from the public sector to the private sector and establish a living wage system to create a warm community where the value of life is respected.

Third, we will realize a warm city by providing impartial welfare services. We will actively identify vulnerable and low-income groups, expand the scope of the social safety net, expand customized services and living stability support to improve the quality of life for people with disabilities, support the stable settlement of foreign nationals and multicultural families, and build special childcare facilities for children with disabilities to guarantee citizens' basic welfare rights and expand a comprehensive welfare system without blind spots.

Fourth, we will create a balanced, harmonious, eco-friendly green city of the future. We will systematically address the sex trade district around Suwon Station, promote Suwon-style urban renaissance projects, and prepare utilization plans for relocated public institution sites to achieve balanced development of new and old city centers and the four districts.

We will preserve the habitat of the Suwon tree frog, promote biodiversity, and create zero-energy Suwon eco-villages. We will also create citizens' forests throughout the city where residents can arrive within six minutes from anywhere in Suwon, thereby creating green environments in daily life.

Fifth, we will expand people-centered transportation infrastructure that is safe and convenient. We will ensure that everyone can walk safely and make it convenient to use bicycles and public transportation. We will not overlook improvements to the transportation environment considering transportation-disadvantaged groups such as children, the elderly, and people with disabilities.

Additionally, we will accelerate the construction of the Suwon Station Transfer Center and the development of the Sungkyunkwan University Complex Station, promote the introduction of street trams linked to Suwon Hwaseong Fortress, and do our utmost to achieve early completion of the metropolitan railway line centered on Suwon.

Dear citizens of Suwon.

2015 is a special year for us. We remember the Year of the Sheep 120 years ago during the late Korean Empire when Queen Min was assassinated. We also remember the joy of liberation 70 years ago. We will recall the noble spirit of sacrifice and dedication of the patriots who died for national independence from the humiliation of the Eulsa Treaty to the day of liberation, and we will create opportunities to reconsider the modern and contemporary history of our region.

For the New Year, we have chosen the theme for our city as "Geun Seol Won Rae" (近說遠來) from the Analects of Confucius. Meaning "if those near are pleased, those far away will come," as a people-centered city attracting the world's attention, we will exert all our efforts to become "Suwon City where people are closer and joy grows greater."

The future of Suwon is created together with our citizens. With citizens at the center of Suwon, I ask for your continued interest and cooperation in the New Year so that we can achieve the changes citizens desire. I sincerely wish that the Year of the Sheep brings a year full of joy and happiness to all 1.2 million citizens of Suwon and their families.

Happy New Year to you all.

Thank you.

Yim Tae-young, Mayor of Suwon