By Kim Tae-jong
Staff Reporter
Seoul City Metropolitan Government and the Ministry of Justice have formed an alliance to react strongly to offenses committed against minors and boost the safety of children and women.
In the first phase of the plan, the city government will offer schools guidelines to cope with kidnapping and missing person cases as well as introduce preventive measures. It will also install some 2,100 surveillance cameras in areas around schools by 2010.
The city government will designate 572 school zones as special areas that require drivers to use extra care to reduce car accidents.
For women, the city government will install alarms in lady's bathrooms in subways and stores as well as surveillance cameras at the entrance to restrooms.
``We will put top priority on securing the safety of children and women through this alliance,'' Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said after a signing ceremony, citing recent crimes against children and women.
The alliance also includes the supervision of food safety and hygiene and the regulation of street vendors, illegal parking and illegal outdoor advertisements, a city government official said.
Vehicles parked illegally on pavements will be towed away, and more CCTVs will be set up on roads around big department stores and malls to regulate illegal parking.
They will introduce a guideline for outdoor advertisements to enhance the city's appearance and regulate violators in a stricter manner.
Minor offenses such as littering cigarette butts will be put under stronger regulations. The city government will dispatch more staff to streets for crackdowns on littering from cigarette butts and other trash.