Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, center, answers lawmakers’ questions during a National Assembly audit at Seoul City Hall, Wednesday. / Yonhap |
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
Lawmakers criticized Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon Wednesday, insisting the local government's 62-billion-won campaign to transform the capital into a world-class cultural hub has made little progress.
During a parliamentary inspection of the city government, Rep. Chang Je-won of the governing Grand National Party (GNP) said an enormous amount of money has been spent on marketing and advertising to attract foreign tourists over the past two years.
Since Oh took office in 2006, he has placed top priority on promoting tourism under the slogan ``Soul of Asia,'' saying that a booming tourism industry is key to Seoul prospering in the future.
``Despite the massive increase in the advertising budget, few residents actually feel that they live in a better urban environment than before,'' the lawmaker said.
Mayor Oh answered that 40 billion won of the 62 billion won spent was set aside for tourism promotion through international media outlets such as CNN and local media in two target countries ― Japan and China.
``It is too early to evaluate these effects. The situation will get better as time goes by,'' he said.
Rep. Choe Kyoo-sik of the largest opposition Democratic Party (DP) expressed skepticism regarding the positive prediction, saying, ``The number of foreign tourists visiting Seoul this year decreased.''
Citing a public opinion survey, Choe said more than 70 percent of Seoul residents didn't feel any difference when it came to their satisfaction on the residential environment after the mayor, an advocate for urban beautification, took office. The survey was conducted by the Korea Society Opinion Institute at Choe's request.
``Those who answered they felt the environment became worse during the same period stood at 11.3 percent, compared with 12.8 percent of respondents saying it was better than before,'' Choe said.
GNP lawmaker You Jung-hyun urged Oh to pay more attention to the lives of working-class citizens, insisting the local government should reconsider the ``Design Seoul'' project, another culture city plan sought by the local government, if it comes at the expense of the livelihoods of low income earners.
DP lawmaker Choe claimed the city government should produce remedies to help underprivileged people whose lives were under threat because of high prices and job insecurity.
Mayor Oh insisted that these people will benefit from the urban beautification project in the long run because of the possible trickle-down effect of the booming tourism sector.
DP lawmaker Lee Yong-sam, however, praised the mayor in his quest for the high-end culture city plan, making policy suggestions for Oh.
``I think that the three major eyesores bothering visitors are the messy neighborhood of the Han River, high voltage electricity wires all around the city, and too many unorganized signboards,'' he said.
Lee said the mayor was already working on the first and third problems, which he praised.
He proposed Oh consider creating a task force to study ways of installing high voltage electricity cables underground so that they do not do disturb the urban landscape.
hkang@koreatimes.co.kr
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