Chairs special summer safety inspection meeting

Offers condolences to families of Seosomun overpass collapse victims

'Blind spots always exist in citizens' daily lives'

'Inspection counts in reports are a means, not a goal'

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon speaks at a special summer safety inspection meeting held at Seoul City Hall on Thursday, his first day back in office. [Yonhap]
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon speaks at a special summer safety inspection meeting held at Seoul City Hall on Thursday, his first day back in office. [Yonhap]

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, fresh off his victory in the June 3 local elections, made safety the first order of business Thursday upon returning to office.

Oh chaired a special summer safety inspection meeting at Seoul City Hall that afternoon, saying he had resolved to put safety first upon his return. "There have been several safety-related accidents and issues of late, which weighs on me all the more," he said.

He added that officials should conduct special safety inspections at all major construction sites and draw up concrete plans "so that citizens can go about their daily lives with complete peace of mind, free from worry about safety."

Safety had dogged Oh throughout the campaign, with his Democratic Party of Korea rival Jeong Won-oh's camp pressing him repeatedly on the issue. A missing rebar incident at a GTX-A construction site emerged as a flashpoint in the final stretch of the race, and less than 10 days before election day, a demolition site at the Seosomun overpass collapsed on May 26, killing three people.

Opening the meeting, Oh extended his "deepest condolences" to the families of those killed in the Seosomun overpass collapse. "This accident happened in the heart of Seoul, in a space where citizens pass through every day — it could easily have turned into a major mass-casualty disaster," he said, stressing that the incident must serve as a hard lesson for the city.

"Accidents always happen where nothing has gone wrong before," Oh said. "Let go of the assumption that because things were fine last year, they will be fine this year — start by checking the places you know best."

He urged officials to keep verifying conditions on the ground, noting that the hardships citizens face in their daily lives often go unrecorded in reports and that blind spots are inevitable. He went on to say that the number of support visits or programs listed in reports "are a means, not a goal — approach the work with that in mind."

Oh said he had repeatedly pledged during the campaign to spend the next four years making Seoul "a special city with warmer, healthier quality of life," adding that safety was the foundation of that vision. "I ask you to take special note of the significance of beginning my return to work with a safety-related agenda," he said.


cook@heraldcorp.com