[특별기획] Mayor Kim Seong-je, who is alive and well, dreams of Uiwang becoming the best city in Korea by 2030.
[경기남부뉴스 김혜숙 기자] “To all Uiwang citizens, I sincerely thank you and thank you!” At the press conference, Mayor Kim expressed his ambition with his characteristic honesty and simplicity that by 2030, Uiwang City would become the most livable city in the country with 250,000 citizens. A New Year press conference was held on the 5th. Uiwang Mayor Kim Seong-je announced his return. It has been 53 days since he collapsed from myocardial infarction. 10% chance of survival, 5% chance of recovery without aftereffects. It was a near-miraculous recovery. Uiwang Mayor Kim Seong-je, who said that heaven helped him, announced that he was alive and well. While he predicted great changes in Uiwang, such as the Am-Wanggok New Town with 15,000 households and the opening of a double-track subway in 2029, he sent a strong warning message on the issue of encroachment on the boundaries of Anyang Prison. Q. Congratulations on your recovery. I wonder what the situation was like back then. A. Last Sunday, December 14th, I went to the cathedral and tried to rest for a while by exercising indoors before attending the event. I remember taking a break for about 20 minutes, but I don’t remember anything after that. I was really lucky. When I fell, there was someone there, who retired from Anyang City at the end of last year. You received fire safety training before retirement, and that was on that day! He said he learned CPR. He performed CPR so hard that my ribs were broken, and I was able to breathe again. 119 arrived in 9 minutes, and within 30 minutes of golden time, I arrived at the hospital and received a stent procedure to open the blood vessel. Everything was a miracle. Thank you so much! Q. How is your current health? I wonder if there are any difficulties in leading the city administration. A. What you see with your eyes is my current state. At first, I felt a little low on energy. But I recovered a lot and am now standing here. My doctor told me not to eat red ginseng or health supplements. Since the heart stops and then starts beating again, recovery of heart function is most important. It is said that complete recovery occurs after 6 months. I am truly grateful to all citizens. There were so many people who came to visit us and prayed at churches, cathedrals, and temples. Thank you. Q. Uiwang has achieved great results in the 3 and a half years of the 8th popular election, being ranked as the ‘6th most livable city in the country.’ What are the main results? A. It was a time to recover the stagnant local economy and take a dynamic leap forward. 66 out of 81 pledges were completed, recording an 81% completion rate, and the pledge fulfillment rate reached 96%. In the evaluation by the Korea Manifesto Implementation Headquarters, it achieved the SA grade for four consecutive years from 2022 to 2025, and received the highest grade in the Ministry of Public Administration and Security’s regional safety index for three consecutive years. In a recent ranking of livable cities on YouTube, it ranked 6th out of 228 local governments nationwide. The Uiwang Culture and Arts Center, which has been a long-awaited dream for over 20 years, is scheduled to open in September or October of this year, and the Indeokwon-Dongtan/Wolgot-Pangyo double-track railway is scheduled to begin construction in August 2024 and is scheduled to open in 2029. We also succeeded in attracting Uiwang General Hospital, and Baekun Lake Elementary and Middle School Integrated School will open in March of this year. Q. Please tell us about the most noteworthy urban development projects and the appropriate population size. A. If you build a lot of apartments, it will become a bed town. Therefore, expanding self-sufficiency is essential. First, in the residential sector, the Am-Wanggok district, with about 15,000 households, was selected as a new public housing district in November 2024. Mini-new city-level development is in full swing. We plan to build a complex of high-tech industrial complexes such as medical and biotechnology along with eco-friendly residential complexes. The current population is 160,000, but it is expected to increase to about 250,000 by mid-2030. In addition, Uiwang City has completed the feasibility review of the Poil-dong industrial complex, and the Uiwang Industry Promotion Agency aims to open in 2027. We attracted about 400 companies to Quantum, a smart city in Chopyeong District, and also succeeded in attracting 360 billion won worth of investment in Cheonggye District 2. Q. The double-track railway, GTX-C, and Wirye-Gwacheon line are said to be a great transportation revolution. What are the plans to build a metropolitan transportation network? A. As the Uiwang extension plan for the Wirye-Gwacheon Line, a key task of Uiwang City, was reflected in the Gyeonggi Province Railroad Basic Plan, a green light was given for reflection in this year’s 5th National Railroad Network Construction Plan. We are also working closely with related organizations for early construction of the Uiwang Station GTX-C line, and by creating the Uiwang Station Complex Transfer Center in connection with the development of the 3rd new city, the area around Uiwang Station will grow into a key hub in the metropolitan area. We are also actively discussing with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and LH the new plan to build Wanggok Station on the Indeokwon-Dongtan Line and the new Wolam Station on National Railway Line 1. We plan to build a new premium bus between Naeson-dong and Pangyo Station, and introduce a student shuttle bus to the Naeson-Cheonggye area, where commuting conditions are poor. Q. Is the mayor’s position on the Anyang Prison development plan “border infringement, strong warning”? A.. It is very unpleasant and regrettable. There is no problem with Anyang City pursuing the prison modernization project. However, among the Anyang Prison site near Wolak High School and Wolak Middle School, the riverside next to Anyang Stream is Uiwang City in terms of administrative district. It is currently being created as a green space and park, but looking at this plan, it appears that the building has been attached next to Wondang-ro, violating the boundaries of Uiwang City. I cannot understand why they are invading our administrative district and pushing ahead with this plan without prior consultation. The Ministry of Strategy and Finance official came and showed me the picture orally, but this is not appropriate in terms of administrative procedures. They can rebuild as much as they like within the Anyang Prison site, but they are pushing it toward Uiwang City due to concerns about backlash from Anyang citizens. The learning rights of Wolak High School and Wolak Middle School students are also violated. We clearly demand that reconstruction be carried out within the boundaries of Anyang City, and we sternly warn that if we proceed in this manner, we will face fierce opposition from our citizens. Q. There are concerns about the public housing district before Gwacheon Racecourse. A. “For the 10,000 units relocated to Gwacheon Racecourse, establish transportation measures first”! There is no reason to oppose Gwacheon City designating and developing a public housing district. However, traffic disasters are as obvious as fire. Gwacheon, Uiwang, Anyang, and Gunpo are in the same living area, and many of our citizens go to Gwacheon, but isn’t it still very congested? If you include 10,000 households in the Gwacheon District, 9,100 households in the Central District, and 10,000 households in the Knowledge Information Town, there are 30,000 households. Adding the 10,000 units of the racetrack site to this, the number is 40,000 units, which is equivalent to the 3rd new city. It is problematic to first announce metropolitan transportation measures without establishing groundbreaking measures. We need to build a new road to Seoul or confirm the Wirye-Gwacheon line we requested early so that citizens can use the subway. Additional development can only be considered when new, rather than old, metropolitan transportation measures are first clearly established. We plan to expand our response by formally sending official letters to relevant organizations. Q. I’m curious about the culture and arts center’s operation plan and the city art troupe’s plan. A. The Uiwang Culture and Arts Center is scheduled to officially open in September-October of this year. Before opening, we need to create a cultural foundation. First, we will form and operate a task force team and establish the cultural foundation as soon as possible. When we investigated the culture and arts centers in Gyeonggi-do, most of them were running at a loss, but only three, Gwacheon, Gwangju, and Baegot, were operating at a profit. It is important to recruit and activate experts. Because public officials don’t know much. We plan to benchmark the cases of Gwacheon and Seongnam and have experts plan performances to turn it into a profitable business. Creating a city orchestra or art troupe costs a lot of money. We are a medium-sized city, so such aspects must be comprehensively considered. We will prepare an operation plan suitable for the 950-seat capacity (730 seats in the large performance hall and 260 seats in the small performance hall), and also promote a rental business to minimize the deficit. Q. It seems that citizen autonomy programs are important, not just building community centers for citizen-centered and open city administration. A. That’s a good point. When it comes to citizen autonomy, software is more important than hardware. The most important thing is to continuously communicate with citizens, collect their opinions, and reflect them in city administration. Good ideas come not only from government officials or experts, but also from citizens. It is a very important channel to consistently operate the visiting mayor’s office. This is a system in which the Resident Autonomy Committee participates from the budget preparation stage to decide what projects to carry out, and our city reviews them and the council approves them. The budget size continues to increase. Public facilities such as waste incinerators must also be built in consultation with citizens. In the case of Icheon and Hanam, they were very successful and well-made, providing incentives to nearby residents, so they became preferred facilities. We will refer to such good cases and discuss with citizens. Q. Lastly, please give a word to the citizens. A. We will strive to establish Uiwang as the best city to live in in the country by 2030. I am really thankful for so many things this time. Thank you to the citizens, and thank you to everyone who visited, called, and prayed. It occurred to me that I had not been living wrong all this time. 2026 is an important year that will bring meaningful results from the 8th popular election and open a new future for Uiwang City. Through large-scale urban development and the establishment of a metropolitan transportation network, we will remap Uiwang and create a luxury city where education, welfare, culture and arts are alive and well. We will work harder together with our citizens to become the most livable city in the country by 2030.
