The Ministry of the Interior and Safety said on the 24th that it will carry out a sweeping cleanup this year of illegal facilities that are unlawfully occupying river and valley zones.
The targets of this cleanup are illegal occupation facilities within river zones, such as the installation of floor platforms, shade canopies and water play facilities, and restaurant business operations. These not only cause public inconvenience but have also drawn ongoing criticism for significantly undermining safety management by obstructing river flow during heavy rain.
In response, President Lee Jae-myung also instructed at the end of last year to "expand the nationwide push to clean up illegal valley facilities."
Based on last year's cleanup results, the government plans to further strengthen the management system and actively respond to illegal occupation facilities that are repeated and habitual every year.
Earlier, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety (MOIS) organized a pan-government task force (TF) with related agencies to clean up illegal occupation facilities. Using a nationwide fact-finding survey and public reports through the Safety Reporting Center, it identified a total of 835 illegal occupation facilities and completed cleanup for 90% (753 cases). The remaining 82 cases (10%) are being addressed in accordance with procedures such as administrative execution.
To strengthen enforcement capacity, the government will expand the workforce of special judicial police in the river sector and operate river and valley patrols, among other measures, to scale up tailored enforcement personnel suited to local conditions.
It will also secure institutional effectiveness by revising relevant laws, including expanding special provisions for applying administrative execution to repeated and habitual violations and establishing grounds for imposing compulsory compliance fines. Support will be strengthened for local governments with strong cleanup results, while those with poor performance will be continuously urged to improve through rigorous monitoring of implementation status.
Yoon Ho-jung, Minister of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety (MOIS), said, "Through a sweeping cleanup of illegal facilities and institutional improvements this year, we will return pleasant and safe rivers to the public."