Seongbuk-gu selects 8 outstanding proactive-administration cases for the first half of 2026; honorees include Jung Seung-yeon, who transformed a neglected senior center into a community cultural platform, and Kim Gang-yeon, who actively supported a high-risk household burdened by dementia and poverty
Seoul's Seongbuk-gu has named eight civil servants its "Outstanding Proactive-Administration Civil Servants for the First Half of 2026," recognizing employees whose work has made a tangible difference in residents' daily lives.
The district solicited nominations for outstanding cases and civil servants from all departments, community offices and residents before conducting a three-stage review: a preliminary departmental working meeting, a vote by staff and residents, and a final deliberation by the Seongbuk-gu Proactive Administration Committee. Evaluators weighed residents' perceived impact, the nominee's initiative, creativity and expertise, the importance and difficulty of the task, and potential for replication. Of the eight cases selected, two received the top "excellence" rating and six received an "encouragement" rating.
Jung Seung-yeon, an official in the Senior and Disabled Welfare Division, earned an excellence rating for revitalizing Hanseong Senior Center, which had sat vacant for three years due to poor accessibility and was becoming a public-safety concern. Jung transformed the space into "Haengbok Deoham" — a community cultural platform where a book café linked to senior employment, a ceramics workshop and a community education room now bring together local residents and retirees.
Kim Gang-yeon, an official in the Jangwi 1-dong community office, also received an excellence rating for her persistent support of a high-risk household that had faced abuse risks for three years due to overlapping challenges of dementia and poverty. Despite the administrative difficulty posed by the family's refusal of in-person contact, Kim continued counseling and persuasion, coordinated closely with relevant agencies, and ultimately secured hospital admission and completed the necessary administrative procedures — ensuring a safe and peaceful old age for a resident in their 90s.
Seongbuk-gu plans to present each honoree with a district mayor's commendation along with grade-based incentives. Excellence-rating recipients will receive the highest performance-pay grade, while encouragement-rating recipients will be granted special leave.
Fifteen employees took part in this round of nominations, reflecting growing interest in proactive administration within the district's civil service year after year.
Seongbuk-gu District Mayor Lee Seung-ro thanked the honorees for their dedication. "I am grateful for the passion of employees who, rather than settling for established practice, pursued their work creatively and proactively to address residents' inconveniences," he said. "Going forward, we will ensure that civil servants who demonstrate proactive administration receive clear rewards, and we will further spread a culture of proactive administration throughout the organization so that residents can feel the difference firsthand."
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