Paju City: “Firmly committed to dismantling the red-light district”

【Financial News, Paju = Kim Kyung-soo, Staff Writer】 Paju City in Gyeonggi Province has decided to conclude public deliberations on dismantling the red-light district this year. It plans to finish discussions by early next year at the latest and draw up concrete measures for dismantling it.
Paju City stated its position on the 11th after concerns were recently raised that public deliberations might delay the district’s dismantling or benefit certain stakeholders.
The city explained that public deliberation is not a process for tolerating illegal activity or supporting a particular person’s livelihood, but rather a process for gathering the views of citizens and stakeholders to develop a sustainable solution.
The city believes that simply closing the district would not be enough to address the problem at its root. That is because prostitution businesses that cease operating could move to nearby areas or other cities.
The city is focused on dismantling the very structure that allows the district to persist. Its plan goes beyond simple crackdowns or closure to reduce the likelihood of a recurrence.
The city will also consider women’s rights and residents’ safety as it dismantles the district. It believes that a thorough gathering of opinions is necessary because the issue involves a range of interconnected matters, including welfare, the urban environment and community conflict. It also took into account that a unilateral approach could instead spark new conflicts.
The public deliberations will reflect the views of a diverse range of citizens and stakeholders. The discussion and decision-making processes will be documented in full. The city aims to develop this into a model for public deliberation that can be used to resolve similar local conflicts in the future.
The city plans to conclude public deliberations this year and, by early next year at the latest, draw up follow-up measures to accelerate the dismantling of the red-light district.
The city is also extending the recruitment period for the citizen participation panel for the “Citizens’ Deliberative Forum on Life and Spatial Transformation in the Red-Light District” by four days, from the originally scheduled 8th to the 12th. The aim is to expand opportunities for citizens to participate, gather a wider range of public views and reflect them more broadly.
[email protected] Kim Kyung-soo Reporter