Suwon city streets cluttered with political banners, damaging urban aesthetics

[News S=Reporter Jung Jun-seong] Political banners are proliferating at prime locations such as intersections throughout Suwon city, damaging the urban landscape.

In particular, these political banners have become increasingly common before and after the Lunar New Year holiday, creating eyesores and compounding inconvenience for pedestrians.

This is primarily because they are indiscriminately hung between street trees at intersections with heavy foot traffic, and between street lamps and traffic lights.

Most of the proliferating political banners belong to politicians seeking to raise their profiles ahead of next year's general election.

Additionally, candidates expected to run in the March agricultural cooperative union director elections, as well as mayors and basic-level council members, are indiscriminately posting them.

The messaging ranges widely from party promotion and criticism of the current administration, to self-congratulatory policy promotion, disparagement of opponents, and holiday greetings. This further aggravates frustration among citizens experiencing pedestrian inconvenience.

However, there is no way to remove these banners, which has become a larger problem fueling their proliferation.

This is because the enforcement ordinance for political banners was revised on December 10 last year.

Under the current outdoor advertising law and ordinance, posting is possible anywhere at any time as long as certain requirements are met.

Consequently, banners posted in locations other than designated posting boards are exempt from illegal outdoor advertising removal.

Once the party name, party contact information, and installation company details are displayed along with the posting period, enforcement is also exempted.

Therefore, local governments managing outdoor advertising have no means of enforcement unless the statutory 15-day posting period has passed.

Citizens expressed outrage, saying 'While general banners are subject to forceful crackdowns and removal, political banners receive immunity, which is a special privilege,' and demanded that 'laws tailored to politicians' preferences must be corrected, as they violate principles of fairness.'