Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon joins other notables in cutting the cake to

 open a talk show celebrating the first anniversary of Seoul Citizens Hall this past Jan. 12.

Seoul Citizens Hall is a space in which the Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) lends an ear to the voices of Seoulites and allows them to participate in diverse programs to communicate with the municipal government.

Located on the first and second basement floors of the newly built Seoul City Hall Building in downtown Seoul, the hall has been serving as a courtyard where citizens show their creativity and individuality while participating in various programs like discussion meetings, workshops, seminars, special events, and wedding ceremonies since its opening in January 2013.  

Seoul Citizens Hall remains open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday free of charge. 

The hall, created at the suggestion of the current civil rights activist-turned-Mayor Park Won-soon, covers 8,150 sq. meters, accounting for roughly 9 percent of the total space of the new Seoul City Hall Building. The first basement floor is a space of vacancy and flexibility in which ordinary citizens can rest or conduct their activities leisurely and freely. The second basement floor is allotted for Seoulites wanting to discuss issues or be engaged in special purpose-oriented ones.

Entering the 2000s, small-sized civic organizations interested in special areas have sprung up with an inclination toward proactive involvement in the policy-making process. In particular, the trend has been apparent during the Mayor Park administration, who had up to 40 policy discussions with small civic organizations within one year of his inauguration in November 2011. 

Seoul Citizens Hall is a new concept of space for mutual communication between Seoul City policymakers and citizens, a paradigm shift from the conventional method of installing publicity halls, now seen in most public organizations in Korea. The hall has been turning into a space Seoulites are willing to go to, a departure from the conventional authoritarian air of public offices. 

Figures, released by the SMG, showed that 380 programs organized by citizens took place during the first 10 months of 2013 on top of some 20 programs hosted by Seoul Citizens Hall. A daily average of about 4,500 citizens made trips to the hall to participate in concerts, exhibitions, discussion meetings, lectures and wedding ceremonies. The combined number of visitors to the hall surpassed the 1 million mark just nine months since its establishment in January 2013. 

The hall has become the subject of coverage by Korean and foreign news outlets, including Voice of America and CNN. Representatives from 10 Korean public organizations, including the Incheon Metropolitan Government and the Financial Supervisory Service, have made an observation tour to the hall to take their cue from its operation.

In its initial stage, the hall had been used as part of the SGM’s space for official duties such as a ceremony to commission Seoul’s welfare watchmen and an explanation session to report about consulting services on policy studies, but diverse policy programs organized by ordinary citizens in cooperation with civic organizations have been replaced, including such programs as the Flower Design Exhibition, the Drive to Support Reading, and the SMG Policy Exhibition.

As part of the celebration of its first anniversary, Seoul Citizens Hall inaugurated the monthly cultural communication program titled “Opening, Filling, and Sharing” this past February. The first presenter at the program was Prof. Kim Chang-ok, president of Human Company, known as a master of communication and sympathy between generations, who spoke about solutions to conflicts between baby boomers, who have contributed to Korea’s explosive development and democratization, and their children. Seoul Citizens Hall plans to foster the monthly cultural communication program and 23 regular programs as its representative events.

Here are some of the different types of spaces at Seoul Citizens Hall. Policy Cafe is a space in which through a citizens’ participatory improvement program, citizens get together to raise and discuss issues to reflect their views on the formation of policies. 

Seoul Citizens Hall Academy is a space for providing citizens with educational opportunities such as liberal arts, lectures, and discussion-type lectures of diverse topics of interest to them.