Park Won-seok Announces 'Four Promises for Safe Yeongdeungpo'

Park Won-seok, candidate from the Justice Party for Suwon District C, announced on the 30th a policy pledge titled <Park Won-seok's Four Promises for Safe Yeongdeungpo>, which consists of student safety, women's safety, family safety, and safety education.

Park's first safety-related policy pledge is to establish an 'eco-friendly school improvement subsidy' in the education finance grant that the central government provides to local governments to enable students to study in a safe school environment.

According to Park's confirmation with the Gyeonggi Province Office of Education, as of last year, among Suwon's 388 kindergartens and elementary, middle, and high schools, 237 schools were built with asbestos finishing materials, which are Group 1 carcinogens, raising concerns about hazards—the highest number among local governments in Gyeonggi Province (Goyang 201 schools, Seongnam 192 schools, Bucheon 167 schools, Anyang and Gwacheon 151 schools, etc.).

'Asbestos-free schools' with no asbestos detected (asbestos material area less than 50㎡) numbered only 153, accounting for 39%.

Park's second safety-related policy pledge is to expand the installation of public unmanned safe delivery boxes in Suwon to enhance women's safety.

In the Seoul metropolitan area, a significant number of apartments have on-site delivery boxes installed, and numerous local governments including Seoul, Incheon, and Hwaseong have been expanding public delivery boxes in community centers, libraries, and other locations. However, in Suwon, public safe delivery boxes are installed only at City Hall and district offices, limiting their use considerably.

As the third safety policy pledge, Park announced the introduction of a complete labeling system for genetically modified organisms (GMO) to ensure family food safety and strengthening import conditions for Japanese seafood products.

Public concerns about indiscriminately spreading GMOs are growing, but current law requires GMO labeling for processed foods only when GMO genetic material remains.

For example, soy sauce made from genetically modified soybeans does not require GMO labeling if soy protein does not remain. In this case, consumers cannot verify whether the product was made from genetically modified soybeans.

Candidate Park Won-seok stated, "I will expand GMO labeling targets under the Food Sanitation Act from 'major ingredients' to all 'ingredients,' and amend the law to require labeling when GMO is used even if the final product contains no genetically modified DNA or proteins, thereby implementing a complete GMO labeling system for all products using GMO."

Additionally, Park announced, "To ensure that food contaminated with radioactive materials does not reach our family table, I will strengthen import restrictions on Japanese agricultural and seafood products contaminated by radioactive leakage from the 2011 Fukushima nuclear power plant explosion accident."

Five years have passed since the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident, yet 300-400 tons of radioactive materials continue to flow into the sea daily. While the government has imposed import bans on seafood products produced in areas surrounding Fukushima, Park explained that cases of false labeling of origin for Japanese seafood products are increasing.

As the fourth safety policy pledge, candidate Park Won-seok announced plans to build a '119 Safety Experience Center' for safety accident prevention pre-education and introduce additional 'mobile 3D safety experience buses' to strengthen 'visiting safety experience classes.'

According to Park's confirmation with the Ministry of Public Safety and Security, currently five safety experience centers are operating nationwide (2 in Seoul, 1 each in South Chungcheong, North Chungcheong, and North Jeolla Province), with one under construction (Busan). However, Gyeonggi Province, the largest local government in Korea, has no safety experience center installed.

Park further stated, "I will additionally purchase 'mobile 3D safety experience buses' capable of providing safety experience to strengthen visiting safety experience classes." Currently, Gyeonggi Province operates 3 'mobile safety experience vehicles' (in Bundang, Hwaseong, and Uijeongbu), but they cannot meet the overwhelming demand for educational requests.

Candidate Park Won-seok said, "Safety is above all about prevention and pre-education," and emphasized that "pre-safety education targeting young students and elderly citizens is necessary."