Facility set to open in February 2027 in Mia-dong, featuring AI and creative-convergence programs
Lawmaker raises concerns over outsourced safety staff; calls for direct management by operating body
Seoul's first public children's career and skills experience facility, to be built in Gangbuk-gu, has come under scrutiny over who will bear responsibility for safety management even before it opens. Critics warn that contracting out the experience programs and safety staff separately could blur accountability in the event of an accident.
According to the Seoul Metropolitan Council, Assembly member Kim Myeong-hui of the Democratic Party of Korea, representing Gangbuk District 1, closely examined the facility's operating structure and safety management plan during the council's 339th extraordinary session, where she reviewed a proposal to approve new private-sector entrustment of management and operations for the Seoul Children's Imagination Land.
The Seoul Children's Imagination Land is a public experience facility designed for children aged 6 to 12 and their guardians, offering career exploration and creative-convergence programs. It will be located at 228 Dobong-ro in Gangbuk-gu and is scheduled to open in February 2027.
The facility will be divided into a Future Exploration Zone, a Future Careers Zone and a Future Creation Zone. Programs are designed to help children engage with AI technology and the humanities while independently exploring their future potential. The Seoul Metropolitan Government says the facility will set itself apart from play-focused kids' cafes and existing venues that offer only simple job-experience activities.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government submitted a private-entrustment proposal to the council, seeking to hand facility management, operations, and the planning of experience, exhibition and education programs to a qualified private organization. The intent was to have a specialized body handle both program operations and safety management in an integrated manner, raising service quality and accountability.
Kim, however, said there was a gap between the stated rationale for private entrustment and the actual budget plan. During the review by the private-entrustment evaluation committee, the Seoul Metropolitan Government had taken the position that a general outsourcing arrangement was inappropriate because a specialized organization should be responsible for both experience programs and safety management. Yet the budget proposal included a separate line item for "exhibition and safety management service fees" alongside the direct-employment personnel costs of the entrusted organization.
This raised the possibility that staff running the experience spaces and handling safety management could end up employed by a separate contractor. If the entrusted organization overseeing overall operations and the contractor managing on-site staff were split apart, the scope of duties, chain of command and liability in the event of an accident could all become unclear.
Kim said that separating key on-site personnel into a distinct contractor arrangement would blur the line of responsibility between the entrusted organization and the contractor, undermining operational stability. She said the entrusted organization should directly hire and deploy staff for both experience program operations and safety management, and be held accountable for the results.
She added that because Seoul's first public children's career and skills experience facility was coming to Gangbuk-gu, local residents had high expectations. Rather than simply meeting the opening schedule, she said, the city should first put in place a safety management system and an accountable operating structure that would actually work on the ground.
Kim urged the Seoul Metropolitan Government to unify operations and safety management under the entrusted organization, and to conduct thorough facility inspections and staff training before the opening, so that children and their guardians could use the space with confidence.
7toy7@heraldcorp.com
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