CCTV To Be Installed in the Overall Areas of Seoul

Closed Circuit Television, or CCTV, which was installed only in Gangnam- gu as an exemplary case, will be installed to other districts in Seoul. Seoul city said that they decided to accept a request by the National Association of Heads of gu office.

The association at the Korea Press Center on Thursday asked the Seoul metropolitan government to give financial support for installing CCTV as Nonhyeon-dong in Kangnam-gu has seen many positive effects after installing CCTV.

Lee Myeong-bak, the mayor of Seoul city, said that the metropolitan city government will support gu areas which really needs to install CCTV.

About 33 billion won is expected to cost to install CCTV in the overall area of the Seoul city. The cost will be shared by the Seoul metropolitan government and each gu office depending on how financially independent the gu office is. While residents, dong office and the police station of each gu will decide where to install CCTV, most of CCTV is expected to be installed around school entrances, densely populated areas, and areas where crime is most likely to occur.

Seoul metropolitan government plans to designate representatives of residents and members from mothers’ association for the environment as supervisors for the operation of CCTV. It also plans to dispose of recorded tapes after a certain period of time to protect privacy and human rights.

Meanwhile, Gangnam-gu decided to increase the number of CCTV installed in the district from the current five to 267. CCTV will be installed in 11 more places in Nonhyeon dong which built consensus for the installation. CCTV installation will be completed in other areas of Gangnam-gu within this year as soon as two-thirds of all the residents agree to the idea. Gangnam-gu said that Nonhyeon-dong, the area where CCTV operation is tested, saw the decrease in the number of five major crimes including murder and robbery to 23 cases from January to May, down by 42.5 percent over the same period of last year.

Thanks to the decrease of crime, the police station in Nonhyeon dong was chosen as the best police station by the Seoul District Police Agency.

Meanwhile, in an online survey conducted by Kangnam-gu office on its residents, 85 percent of respondents, or 2199 people out of 2587 respondents answered that they are for the installation of CCTV. Kangnam-gu office said that human rights law in Britain agrees to a violation of human rights in a way that minimize the negative impacts of the violation if it is agreed for the public interests. The Kangnam-gu office wished the installation of CCTV to be expanded to other cities in the nation as it is very effective in promoting crime prevention and security of residents.

ray@donga.com