Daegu Mayor Choo Kyung-ho Orders Construction to Begin on Seomun Market District 4 This Year

[Financial News, Daegu — Reporter Kim Jang-wook] "Ten years after the fire, focus all administrative resources on starting construction on Seomun Market District 4 this year!"
On Sept. 21, Daegu Mayor Choo Kyung-ho chaired an executive meeting in the main conference room at Daegu City Hall's Sangyeok Office Building and instructed officials, "Focus all administrative resources on completing the procedures required for the Seomun Market District 4 market improvement project (reconstruction) as quickly as possible so construction can begin as early as possible this year."
At the meeting, Mayor Choo said, "During my visit to Seomun Market yesterday ahead of Chuseok, I listened to the merchants' concerns. Many of them told me they have been facing significant difficulties, including declining sales, because they have continued operating from temporary shops since the 2016 fire."
He went on to say, "Since this issue is directly tied to the livelihoods of merchants who have endured difficulties for so long because of the fire, quickly pursue every necessary measure so construction can begin this year and the Seomun Market District 4 shopping area can be properly rebuilt as soon as possible."
Seomun Market District 4 was demolished after a major fire on Nov. 30, 2016. Since then, Daegu Metropolitan City and Jung-gu District Office have approved and publicly announced the market improvement project plan, authorized the establishment of an association in 2021, approved the project implementation plan in 2023, and completed approval of the management and disposal plan on July 3. The city plans to swiftly complete the remaining detailed administrative procedures and begin construction within the year.
He also stressed that officials must not stop at announcing policies but should check whether they are working on the ground and quickly make improvements. Mayor Choo said, "After announcing a policy, we need to check whether it is working in the field as we intended. If there are problems on the ground, we must quickly address them and ensure they are reflected when preparing the next measures."
He also instructed officials, "To manage the city's major construction projects systematically, inspect and report each site's progress and status every month."
Concluding the executive meeting, Mayor Choo emphasized, "Policies that citizens do not know about are unfortunate, but meaningless. We can earn citizens' assessment and trust only by taking responsibility through the end to ensure that policies work properly on the ground, rather than stopping at creating them." He added, "Please pursue administrative work with a sense of ownership and speed."

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