Son Hwa-jeong, the first mayor of Yeongjong-gu District in Incheon, personally volunteered to serve meals at the district office's staff cafeteria at noon on July 2, part of an effort to communicate with employees early in her tenure. Rather than standing on ceremony, she visited a practical workplace of the civil service to hear directly from staff — a move that showed the mayor, tasked with leading the launch of a newly established autonomous district, is prioritizing "field-centered and communication-centered" administration from the outset of her term.
 [The Korean Today] Yeongjong-gu District Mayor Son Hwa-jeong volunteering to serve meals at the staff cafeteria © Reporter Kim Mi-hee |
The meal-serving volunteer effort was aimed at consoling employees who had devoted themselves to stabilizing various new administrative systems following the launch of Yeongjong-gu on July 1, and at creating a setting for candid conversation without regard to rank. In the early days of an autonomous district, employees' workloads rise sharply as they build new organizational, computing and operational systems, and Mayor Son chose to see and encourage that on-the-ground burden firsthand.
That day, Mayor Son put on an apron and a sanitary cap and personally portioned out side dishes, greeting each employee who came to the cafeteria with a nod and conveying her thanks and encouragement. After finishing the serving, she sat at the same table as the employees to share lunch and talk in a relaxed atmosphere.
She then offered words of encouragement to the dietitians and cooks who work in the staff cafeteria, asking them to pay particular attention to hygiene management for the sake of employees' healthy eating. She did not stop at the symbolic act of serving meals but also looked after the working staff at the meal-service site.
 [The Korean Today] Yeongjong-gu District Mayor Son Hwa-jeong sharing lunch with employees © Reporter Kim Mi-hee |
This move by Mayor Son is an extension of the practical stance she has maintained since her first day in office. On July 1, her first day, she began her term with a simple event instead of a large-scale inauguration ceremony, and carried out the "Yeongjong-gu, Green Start!" environmental cleanup activity together with senior officials at the grade-5 level and above. That day, Mayor Son personally picked up litter discarded on the streets and met and spoke with residents, and the inauguration ceremony, though small in scale, was held with substance.
Mayor Son Hwa-jeong said, "I decided to volunteer to serve meals at the staff cafeteria out of a wish to encourage employees who have worked hard on pending issues and duties following the launch of Yeongjong-gu," adding, "Going forward, I will communicate candidly with employees and carry out administration in which action comes before words."
She also stressed, "The true change and leap forward for Yeongjong is completed not by the mayor alone, but only when all public officials walk together with one heart," adding, "All public officials of Yeongjong-gu will pull together and provide administrative services for residents with an even more proactive attitude." With the first mayor of the newly established autonomous district placing internal communication and on-site action front and center from early in her term, attention is turning to whether this approach will carry over into Yeongjong-gu's administrative operations going forward.
[ Reporter Kim Mi-hee: incheonsouth@thekoreantoday.com ]
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