Local leaders in South Korea plan to move offices to first floor for citizen engagement

Newly elected local government leaders across South Korea are proposing to relocate their mayoral offices to the first floor of municipal buildings, aiming to foster closer communication with citizens and dismantle the image of authority associated with traditional executive spaces. This move signifies a broader effort to make local government more accessible and responsive.

In Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, the mayor-elect plans to consolidate the mayoral office, the communication and cooperation division, and the secretariat into a single first-floor space. This arrangement is intended to create an "open mayor's office" easily accessible to all citizens, including those with mobility challenges like the elderly and disabled. The relocation is slated for completion by the end of September, with renovations expected to be minimal, focusing on installing partitions.

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We are naturally in agreement with the policy change that moves the mayor's office threshold lower, moving away from 'backroom administration' and opening up to citizens.

Similar initiatives are underway in other cities. Paju is also considering moving its mayoral office from the second to the first floor, a plan that has been discussed with city officials. In Gunsan, North Jeolla Province, the mayor-elect has prioritized relocating the office to the first floor as part of his campaign pledges. Donghae and Gangneung in Gangwon Province also have mayors who have promised to move their offices to the first floor and open mayoral meetings to the public.

These efforts echo past attempts to increase accessibility. Former Seongnam Mayor Lee Jae-myung, now president, famously transformed his ninth-floor office into a citizen's library and moved his workspace to a second-floor library in 2010. While this arrangement persisted for some time, subsequent administrations altered the setup, drawing criticism for reducing public access. Debates over relocating mayoral offices have also arisen in other cities, such as Icheon, where multiple moves incurred significant costs and sparked public criticism about the frequent reallocation of taxpayer funds.

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Beyond physically moving the mayor's office, we must also consider how to build public-private cooperation in terms of software.