By Kim Rahn
Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon was dubbed the “welfare mayor,” because his victory in last October’s by-election was largely attributable to pledges he made to expand welfare, including providing free school lunches to all students, regardless of their parents’income levels.
But he became unhappy with the central government-driven free nursery service for children attending daycare centers aged two and under — not because of the service itself but because of the way the policy was adopted.
The National Assembly and the government agreed to expand the service on Dec. 31 last year, after all municipalities finished drawing up their budgets for 2012. As demand for the free service spiked, municipalities, including Seoul City, are now running out of funding and there are fears that the service will be soon suspended. Local governments are now calling for the central government to take responsibility.
“We believe the central government should take responsibility for all the mess regarding the service,” Park said.
He also said it is better for the central government to leave such policy matters in the hands of municipalities because the latter knows what the people really need and what obstacles such policies can have at a local level.
“The Assembly and the government made us share the expenses after we set up the budget. In Seoul’s case, the government’s share to cover the service is only 20 percent. Affluent Seocho-gu said last month that its budget was drying up. Other districts will also have to stop the childcare service around September because they don’t have the money. This is a symbolic case that shows why the central government should transfer much of its power to municipalities.”
Seoul City allocated 800 billion won for the service, but the money is not enough to cope with the soaring demand.
“If the central government doesn’t provide financial support, we have to tell citizens frankly that we don’t have the money to continue the service, which the government hastily adopted,” the mayor said.
But Park said the situation doesn’t mean that welfare policies for all people, regardless of financial status, should be repealed.
“To achieve the goal, thorough planning should come first, because the budget is the top priority to consider. For example, we offer free vaccinations to children for almost all diseases but not for those needing vaccines which cost over 100,000 won because the budget is not enough. Each municipality considers such things when planning their budget. But the government-driven free nursery service didn’t consider the municipalities’ coffers.”
After taking office, Park said he needed to reorganize policies and projects his predecessors launched because times have changed. “City affairs need to be revised according to the new vision of the current era. Many projects will continue without changes, but some will undergo changes.”
For example, the concept of Dongdaemun Design Plaza, which was one of former Mayor Oh Se-hoon’s key projects, will be changed from the “World’s Design Mecca” to a fashion center which is more open to the public.
“Whether they are good or bad, they exist. Then we need to make full use of them and upgrade the places,” he said.
Other large-scale projects undergoing changes under the new mayor is the New Town housing project. In many districts under the redevelopment plan, there had been disputes among parties with different interests such as tenants, house owners and developers. Park’s policy is allowing cancelation of projects if the majority of the residents oppose them.
“So far, New Town was portrayed as if residents could make a lot of money through the redevelopment. The whole city was in a mess, with every district having disputes. The new policy has alleviated the mess,” he said.
Park, a former lawyer who has long been engaged in civic activities for human rights, environment and charity, said the most important thing in implementing policies is a mixture of nature, history and people. Many of his policies are also focused on such values.
“We don’t have ‘community’ life. Being centralized, company-oriented and competing for survival, we don’t have time or the chance to enjoy with family, relax and come up with creative ideas.”
He said such leisurely lifestyles will also be helpful for the economy.
“Advanced countries also went through industrialization and fierce competition like us, but have come to value the quality of life and recreation. New values have developed into knowledge, culture or art industries, and I think Korea is at the stage just before that,” he said.
The “Twitter mayor,” who often communicates with citizens through social networking services, emphasizes the importance of on-the-spot inspections.
“A policy doesn’t work well when it is not based on what’s really happening on in real-time. If policymakers don’t communicate with citizens but do only ‘desk jobs,’ the policy turns out to be ineffective. I emphasize communication with residents, experts and civic groups as well as getting feedback from them because that can lead to a successful policy,” Park said.