Uijeongbu’s Transformation: How Mayor Kim’s Vision Turns a Bedroom Community into a Self-Sufficient City

Mayor Kim Dong-geun announced at Uijeongbu City Hall on the 21st that he will seek re-election in the next mayoral race.

Kim said, “The past four years brought meaningful change and concrete results for Uijeongbu. The next four years should build on that progress and pursue even greater development,” adding, “I’m running again to create a larger Uijeongbu and improve residents’ quality of life.”

◆Problem-solving administration: canceling the Gosan logistics center and resolving long-standing issues = Kim said he decided to run again after reflecting on the commitment he made when he first ran for mayor four years ago. “The phrase I heard most from residents during that time was, ‘Uijeongbu is changing,’” he said. “I want to maintain that momentum and expand it.”

He listed key achievements from the past four years: canceling the Gosan logistics center plan, relocating the Howon reserve forces training ground, and resolving the long-standing incinerator issue in Jangam-dong. “I did not avoid problems that lingered for years. I took responsibility and solved them,” he said, stressing that his record shows results rather than promises.

◆“From bedroom community to self-sustaining city by landing Daewoong”= Kim identified job creation as Uijeongbu’s core challenge and highlighted structural shifts his administration has pursued.

“Uijeongbu was a typical bedroom community, but we converted planned apartment and logistics areas on former U.S. military return land into corporate sites,” he said. “We established a dedicated corporate-attraction team, won final candidacy as an economic free zone, and removed regulations at the Yonghyeon industrial complex to create a foundation for businesses to move in.”

Kim described securing Daewoong Group’s investment at Camp Jackson as “a first step that will change Uijeongbu from a city without jobs into a city with jobs.”

On transportation, he cited starting construction on the GTX-C line, expanding regional express bus services, introducing student-only school buses, and advancing the extension of Subway Line 8 as achievements, and pledged to position Uijeongbu as a transportation hub for northern Gyeonggi Province.

He also pointed to progress in culture, ecology, and education, including restoring streams such as Jungnangcheon and Buyongcheon, laying the groundwork for the Baek Young-su Municipal Art Museum, earning designation as a legally recognized cultural city, successfully hosting the Hoeryong Cultural Festival, increasing admission rates to Gyeonggi Northern Science High School, and advancing plans to establish a Sports-Convergence Science High School.

He added that he has engaged directly with residents through more than 100 on-site mayor’s office sessions and pursued administrative innovations to lower barriers to government, such as opening City Hall and community centers to the public.

◆“Five major innovations to realize a bigger Uijeongbu”= In his campaign launch, Mayor Kim said the next four years will focus on completing a “bigger Uijeongbu” that raises residents’ quality of life, and he pledged a comprehensive transformation across all areas of city governance.

He said he will attract advanced bio and IT industries to former U.S. military return sites and create the conditions for global companies to invest by securing economic free-zone status, with the goal of creating quality jobs and transforming Uijeongbu into a self-sustaining city rather than a bedroom community.

He also pledged to build a northern Seoul metropolitan-area transportation hub by extending Subway Line 8, linking rail networks to GTX-C, introducing SRT service, creating a regional transfer center, and launching circulator buses.

On urban development, he plans to establish a business hub centered on the Uijeongbu Station area and expand mixed-use cultural and leisure spaces on key sites to fundamentally reorganize the city’s layout.

He promised to expand cultural and ecological infrastructure to make Uijeongbu a place where people want to stay, strengthen the city’s brand through waterfront and garden projects, and institutionalize a system in which citizens directly shape the city’s direction by expanding participatory deliberation platforms and on-site, citizen-centered administration.

◆“I will see Uijeongbu’s transformation through to completion” = Kim said, “Uijeongbu is already on a path of change. I will not stop now. I will complete innovation across jobs, transportation, urban planning, culture, and administration to elevate Uijeongbu as a central city in the northern Seoul metropolitan area.”

He added, “Based on my record of transforming Uijeongbu, I will take full responsibility to deliver even greater change.”

©(Dailian Co., Ltd.) Unauthorized reproduction and redistribution prohibited

• [Exclusive] A single moment’s pause would be a disaster… Samsung even took eight core semiconductor process blueprints to court
• Environment Corporation signs MOU with IBK Industrial Bank to support international greenhouse-gas reduction projects
• [Exclusive] Energy emergency, but floating solar farm stalled three years due to resident opposition
• Proposal to abolish special deduction for one-home owners… Aimed at speculative buying of “the smart single home” and nonresidential properties
• Song Eon-seok: “Social media politics is lighter than a feather… Lee should declare he will not pursue abolishing the special deduction”