Inauguration ceremony set for Tuesday afternoon at Songpa Culture and Arts Center, with more than 1,000 residents expected to attend; Seo pledges to make Songpa 'an even better place to live'
Seoul's Songpa-gu will hold an inauguration ceremony for District Mayor Seo Gang-seok on Tuesday at 3 p.m. at the Songpa Culture and Arts Center, marking the start of a new four-year term under the ninth round of local elections.
The event is expected to draw more than 1,000 attendees, including National Assembly lawmakers, Seoul city and district council members, heads of affiliated institutions and civic organizations, and residents. Seo plans to greet each guest personally at the venue, signaling his commitment to continuing what he calls "service administration" into the new term.
The ceremony will open with performances by the Songpa District Choir and the Songpa District Symphony Orchestra, followed by the national salute, a commemorative video screening, the oath of office and inaugural address, congratulatory messages and speeches, a vision-declaration performance for the new term, and a closing celebratory performance.
The launch of the new term is framed as a fresh start built on the achievements of the previous four years, aimed at cultivating Songpa's future growth engines and improving residents' quality of life. Seo has adopted "Songpa — an even better city to live in" as his slogan and plans to pursue a community-centered approach to governance that delivers tangible change for residents.
The commemorative video will highlight the sweeping transformation Seo and Songpa's 650,000 residents achieved together over the past four years, drawing on his long career as an urban administrator.
It will also present a blueprint for governing the district over the next four years, reflecting residents' hopes and aspirations.
In his inaugural address, Seo will reaffirm his commitment to service administration and outline policy directions across seven areas: Songpa as a premium residential city, Songpa as a city within a garden, Songpa as a city of culture and arts, Songpa as a city of community sports, Songpa as a city of educational advancement, Songpa as a city of health and longevity, and Songpa as a city of inclusion.
A vision-declaration performance will also be staged to share the district's aspirations as a premium city that serves its residents as its true owners, reinforcing the significance of the new term's launch.
For residents unable to attend in person, the district plans to livestream the entire ceremony on the Songpa TV YouTube channel.
"I am deeply grateful for the generous support that the residents — the true sovereigns of this land — have shown me once again," Seo said. "I will devote every effort, together with Songpa's 650,000 residents, to fulfilling their mandate to make this an even better city and to elevate Songpa into a representative premium city of South Korea."
On his first day in office, Seo will visit the Seoul National Cemetery at 8 a.m. before heading to the district mayor's office at 9 a.m. He will then begin work by signing his first and second official approvals of the new term: the project implementation plan for the Jamsil 5 apartment complex redevelopment, and a plan to ease parking enforcement to support residents' everyday lives.
seouldream01@heraldcorp.com
