Hwaseong Breaks Through 1 Million Population Milestone
[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Lee Su-won] Hwaseong's population reached 1,000,063 as of the 4th, marking the breakthrough of the 1 million population milestone.
On the 14th, the city officially became the fifth metropolitan area with 1 million population nationwide and held a ceremony inviting the one-millionth resident family to present them with a citizen certificate and celebrate together.
The certificate presentation ceremony held in the city hall lobby was prepared as an occasion to instill civic pride in Hwaseong residents and celebrate Hwaseong reaching 1 million people together with citizens.
The ceremony was attended by resident families selected as the one-millionth, the one-million-and-thirtieth, and the "million twins" (first newborns born after the population reached 1 million), as well as relevant agencies and corporate executives and employees in the area.
Given the reality of the age of regional population decline, the city assessed that Hwaseong is likely to become the last city in the nation to achieve 1 million population, and the increase of 800,000 people in 22 years from 210,000 in 2001 is evaluated as a case rarely found worldwide.
With the breakthrough of 1 million population, a condition for the first year of operation as a special autonomous city, Hwaseong becomes the fifth basic local government nationwide to exceed 1 million people, following Suwon, Yongin, Goyang, and Changwon. If the city maintains its 1 million population through next year, it will gain the status of the nation's fifth special autonomous city in January 2025.
The one-millionth Hwaseong resident is Lee, who relocated from Seoul's Gangdong-gu to Dongtan 9-dong. The one-million-and-thirtieth resident is Song, who moved to Dongtan 5-dong. The "million twins" is baby Kim, whose birth was registered in Byeongjeom 1-dong.
At today's certificate presentation ceremony, along with citizen certificates, the one-millionth resident received an electric vehicle and health checkup vouchers from Kia Autoland Hwaseong and Dongtan City Hospital. The one-million-and-thirtieth resident received an electric vehicle commemorating the 30th anniversary of the completion of Hyundai Motor's Kia Namyang Research Institute (1993). The million twins' family received family health checkup vouchers from Hwaseong Only Hospital and 100kg of rice from NH Nonghyup Hwaseong City Branch.
In addition, NH Nonghyup Bank Hwaseong City Branch (Branch Director Kim Chang-gyeom) presented a total of 10,000kg of rice to vulnerable households in Hwaseong to commemorate the breakthrough of 1 million population. The rice will be distributed to 100 vulnerable households at 100kg each.
Hwaseong Mayor Jeong Myeong-geun stated, "Breaking through 1 million population is not an end but a new beginning," and added, "I will do my best to create Hwaseong as the best city everyone wants to live in and where all citizens are happy."
Meanwhile, the city joined the Korea Special Autonomous Cities Association as an associate member and established a network with the four special autonomous cities. It is actively cooperating on matters such as enacting the 'Special Autonomous Cities Support Special Act' to expand the autonomy of special autonomous cities. Together with the private sector through the Hwaseong Research Institute and the One-Million Special Autonomous City Preparatory Committee, the city plans to pursue various activities for the transfer of special autonomous city authorities by making efforts to discover special autonomous city matters.