District Mayor Jo Yu-jin formalizes 'constitutional city declaration' as first official act

Ordinance mandates constitutional review of policies, staff education on constitutional values

Residents' assembly 'Minhoe' and constitutional city committee enshrined in law

Yeongdeungpo-gu District Mayor Jo Yu-jin delivers a special lecture themed "Yeongdeungpo Meets the Constitution" on July 16, the day before the 78th Constitution Day. [Yeongdeungpo-gu]
Yeongdeungpo-gu District Mayor Jo Yu-jin delivers a special lecture themed "Yeongdeungpo Meets the Constitution" on July 16, the day before the 78th Constitution Day. [Yeongdeungpo-gu]

Seoul's Yeongdeungpo-gu announced Monday that it enacted and promulgated on Friday the "Ordinance for the Realization of a Constitutional City in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul," making the constitutional principles and values of the Republic of Korea the top priority in district governance.

The ordinance is the first of its kind among local governments nationwide. Articles 1 and 2 explicitly designate the protection of residents' fundamental rights and the enhancement of civic sovereignty as the district's foremost governing priorities, establishing a legal foundation for the development of a constitutional city.

The measure gives concrete form to the "Yeongdeungpo Constitutional City Declaration," which District Mayor Jo Yu-jin signed as the first official act upon taking office. At the time of that signing, Jo set civic sovereignty as the top goal and put forward democracy, transparency and fairness as the guiding principles of district administration. Through the ordinance, the district plans to embed constitutional values — including human dignity, freedom, equality and the rule of law — across all areas of governance.

In an interview with The Herald Business in August, Jo said, "The driving force behind our development has been the Constitution. I believe we can advance even further by internalizing it." Jo added, "The National Assembly is in Yeongdeungpo. There is a symbolic significance in the fact that Yeongdeungpo is where the democracy movement took place, where the Constitution was drafted, deliberated and adopted, and where it was subsequently defended."

The ordinance formally enshrines the operation of "Minhoe," a large-scale public deliberation forum through which residents directly debate and reach consensus on major district issues. Participants will be selected transparently through open recruitment and random lottery. Proposals adopted through resident consensus at the Minhoe will go through district policy review and district council budget deliberation before a final decision is made on implementation, with the entire process disclosed to the public.

The ordinance also mandates constitutional review when making major policy decisions, drawing up budgets, and enacting or amending local regulations. It further requires tailored constitutional education programs for different groups so that residents can understand constitutional values and fundamental rights and apply them in their daily lives.

In addition, the district plans to establish the Yeongdeungpo-gu Constitutional City Committee — comprising up to 20 members drawn from constitutional and human rights experts, district council members and civil society representatives — to deliberate on and evaluate the basic direction and key projects of the constitutional city initiative.

A Yeongdeungpo-gu official said the promulgation of the ordinance "will serve as the most powerful driving force leading the transformation toward the constitutional city that the ninth elected-term Yeongdeungpo-gu aspires to become."


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