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Guro is a district of Seoul, South Korea, which separated from Yeongdeungpo on April 1, 1980. Located in the southwestern part of the city, Guro has an important position as a transport link from the rest of Seoul to the south of the country. The Gyeongbu and Gyeongin railway lines connect Seoul to Busan and Incheon. In addition, Seoul Metropolitan Subway lines 1, 2 and 7, and major highways intersect in Guro.
The name Guro originates from the legend that nine (Korean: gu) old men (Korean: ro) enjoyed longevity in the district. It covers 3.3% of the total area of Seoul.
A digital industrial complex is located in Guro. The Guro Digital Industrial Complex, which played a leading industrial role mainly with textile manufacturing, dressmaking and other labour-intensive industries in 1967, has been rapidly changed into an I.T. industrial complex. This complex played a pivotal role in the economic growth of the country, referred to as the ‘Miracle on the Han River’, and also contributed 10% of national export in the 1970s.
Twenty one percent of the total area of Guro District is a restricted zone to be used as a greenbelt with the only arboretum in Seoul. The zone is changing into a lively district as large labour-intensive factories are moving from the area and the council is developing what it terms its four zones.
Guro has an "e-government" system and based on this hosted the international e-participation forum1 on February 7~9, 2007 with the participation from more than 37 countries. The forum was launched with the theme "Promoting Democracy and Regional Development" and 25 mayors such as André Santini (Issy-les-Moulineaux, France), Kevin Foy (Chapel Hill, US), Apirak Kosayothin (Bangkok, Thailand), Uvais Mohamed Emthiyas (Colombo, Sri Lanka), and world experts such as Dr William H. Dutton (Director of Oxford Internet Institute in University of Oxford, UK) and Dr Ari-Veiko Anttiroiko (Professor of the University of Tampere, Finland) participated in the forum. The Guro Declaration2, adopted during the forum, aims to set up a portal site for e-government development and to establish a concrete project in order to bridge the digital divide among the world's cities. This practice has been recognised for providing a new important step in the development of e-democracy.
The e-participation forum was a key factor for Guro to play the leading role in bridging the digital divide among cities, to provide I.T. enterprises located in Guro Digital Industrial Complex the opportunity to launch into the international market, to improve its image and become a global leader to concrete e-democracy.
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Guro was known as Ingbolnohyeon (仍伐奴縣 – meaning ‘land spreading’) during the Goguryeo Dynasty (37 BC - AD 668) but it changed into Gogyanghyeon (穀壤縣) in the period of the Unified Silla Dynasty (668 - 935), again changed into Geumju (衿州) and Shiheung (始興) during the Goryeo Dynasty (918 - 1392). Following a complete reorganisation of the district in 1413, it changed to Geumcheonhyeon(衿川縣), later into Siheunghyeon(始興縣) in 1795, and became part of Siheunggun(始興郡), Gyeonggi Province until 1949. On August 13, 1949, Guro was incorporated in the enlarged administrative district of Seoul and remained in the jurisdiction of Yeongdeungpo until April 1, 1980 when Guro became a new district.
Guro, composed of 19 dong, has an area of 20.11㎢, covering 3.3% of the total area of Seoul. Among the 19 dong, Oryu 2-dong is the largest (4.6㎢), while Garibong 2-dong is the smallest (0.14㎢). The district is composed of 7.08㎢ (35.2%) which is residential, 0.42㎢ (2.1%) commercial, 6.89㎢ (34.3%) industrial and 5,72㎢ (28.4%) as a green belt. The geography is mostly flat, but there are some hills in the western area of the district 100 m above sea level.
It is classified as having a temperate climate with four distinct seasons. August is the very hottest month and the average temperature is about 25℃. The average temperature in January, the coldest month, is -0.7℃ and the average temperature of the year is 12.7℃. The temperature rises to 34℃ - 36℃ on the hottest days and the temperature ranges between -12℃ - -15℃ on the coldest days. Thus, the annual temperature varies greatly. Rainfall averages 1,200 mm annually and 70% falls in the monsoon season from June to September.
Textile manufacturing, dressmaking, and other labour-intensive industries declined after the 1990s and this affected regional development and became the cause of many problems. Because of this, Guro council has divided the district into four zones and has started developing each zone according to its characteristics in order to revitalise the economy of the area. After the reorganisation of the industrial structure in the late 1990s, more than 80% of I.T. companies settled in the area, creating the Guro Digital Industrial Complex. Meanwhile, many apartments were built replacing the old textile manufacturing factories to become a new, attractive residential area for south-west Seoul. The Development of Guro District's Four Zones is intended to be the centre for environmentally-friendly residences, cutting-edge digital industry and logistics.
Guro is developing the Garibong-dong area located between Guro Digital Complex 1 and Complexes 2 and 3. This area is encompassed by the strategic business district, residential facilities and an ecological park located in the centre of the area. The Guro Digital Complex area is expected to become an Asian version of Silicon Valley once this project is completed in 2012.
Sindorim, the northern gateway to Guro, is a landmark of the District and is developed to be the new point for growth. The 'Daeseong Dream Square' Twin Building, once the construction is over, will accommodate hotels, convention centres and multi-purpose business centres, while ‘Techno Mart’ and ‘Mirae-Sarang City’ will create the largest electronic mall in Asia.
The area of Gaebong-dong and Gocheok-dong is in the centre of Guro and the prison that is currently located in this area will be moved to the outskirts of the district by 2009. Instead, residential facilities, commercial and business centres are planned to be built. Moreover, the southern district will accommodate cultural arts centres and sports facilities including an e-sports arena.
The areas of Sugung-dong, Hang-dong, and Cheonwang-dong, located on the boundary with Gyeonggi-do, have plenty of green areas. These areas have developed into a new environmentally-friendly town with forests and streams. The Gung-dong Science High School is expected to open its doors by 2008 and the development of the first city-subsidised arboretum in Seoul is underway in this area.3 Thus, the new town will be the most eco-friendly residential landmark in Seoul.
The Anyangcheon, the longest tributary of the Han River in Seoul, runs south to north, through the centre of Guro-gu. The water pollution of the Anyang Stream was once extremely severe, but now the water quality level has increased significantly, fish have returned and it has become very popular among local residents. Now there is a riverside cycle path, soccer field, badminton court, inline skating rink, plaza and wildlife garden along the river and many other sports facilities around the area.
Guro-gu is composed of the 19 haengjeong-dong (dongs designated by administrative purpose)
Guro Industrial Complex, the first industrial complex of the country, was created in Guro 3-dong in 1967. The World Industrial Exhibition held in Guro in 1968 contributed to remarkable development of Guro Industrial Complex and the textile manufacturing, dressmaking, and other labour-intensive industries dubbed the "Miracle on the Han River" during the 1960s and 1970s. Guro Industrial Complex contributed 10% of national export. The Guro Industrial Complex has rapidly changed from a manufacturing industrial zone into a futuristic industrial hub, centering on research and development activities, advanced information and knowledge industries since 2000, and has developed into the largest digital industrial complex in Korea. Currently, there are about 6,300 venture companies with more than 80,000 staff in an area of two million m². Moreover, it is the hub for the nation's high-tech industry which continuously focuses on R&D, high-tech knowledge and information industry. More than 80% of the companies are I.T. companies with a total production of about 5.5 trillion won and an export of about 1.5 trillion won. Especially importantly, the Korea Venture Business Association is located in Guro Industrial Complex.
The administration of Guro is mainly composed of digital, sanitary and welfare administration.
The digital administration is the embodiment of e-government standards. Guro combines high tech information technology and administration to provide a digital administrative service to the citizens and a good business environment to companies.
Sanitary Administration is concentrating its efforts to reduce environmental pollution and expand the green zone in the area of Guro Industrial Complex that was once seriously polluted. Many citizens are actively participating in environmental organisations such as Ansamo and Hwansamo. Especially, the Ggalggeumi Volunteers revived the practice of citizens cleaning up their neighborhood streets and roads on a daily basis with the participation of about 12,000 citizens, which became the first citizens’ voluntary organisation in the area of environment. Years of restoration efforts have resulted in upgrading the water quality of the Anyang Stream, and also the Dorim and Mokgam streams, which are tributaries of the Anyang stream, will be restored to be more ecologically sound rivers. The degree of air pollution in Guro is about 0.004ppm of sulphuric acid gas and 0.4ppm of nitrogen monoxide, much lower than the average level of Seoul Metropolitan area and the WHO standard.
Among many welfare administrative services, Guro especially has the u-healthcare and supporting disabled people policy.
The u-healthcare system is the service provided by Guro Public Health Centre's doctors through mobile phones or PDA to patients with diabetes, blood pressure, obesity, respiratory disease and other conditions. Physicians retrieve data for diagnosis and treatment as needed. This service is provided either at home or at the dong office. This is the first time in the country that this kind of service has been executed using a high-tech healthcare system policy. Guro District runs the Welfare and Computer Education Centres for the disabled, lends equipment for low-income disabled, supports in-house repairing and provides many other facilities that made the district the top disabled supporter for the last three consecutive years among the 25 districts of Seoul.
Guro has a total of 83 education facilities: four universities, 11 high schools, 13 junior high schools, 23 elementary schools and 33 kindergartens. Furthermore, there are 33 public and private libraries with more than 420,000 books. Dongyang Technical College provides education with a specialised curriculum focused mainly on high-tech practical training courses and supplies high-quality manpower to the companies located at the Guro Digital Industrial Complex.
Sungkonghoe University[1] is committed to nurturing members of society and NGO leaders who will work for public welfare, social services, human rights and peace of the world. It is also training students to work in industrial fields. Furthermore, it plans to open the Science High School with a capacity for 480 students and 24 classes by 2008. It is expected that qualifying students will be able to receive a well-structured science education from an early age so that talented manpower could be hired at the Guro Digital Industrial Complex’s companies.
The Jump Guro Festival is held every year from October 1 to October 3. Some typical events of Jump Guro Festival are the Venturers' Necktie Marathon, e-sports tournament, performing entertainments and many other activities and it is planned to improve the cultural festival into the best digital festival in the nation. A building for Art and Culture with two storeys below and six above ground, located in Guro-dong, has facilities for art performances such as orchestra, stage musicals, theatre and exhibitions.
The Ggumnamu Toy Land opened in 2005, fully equipped with more than 3,000 toys and many different attractions to enjoy recreational facilities and toys and grow up healthy.
Furthermore, Guro District has a wrestling team and has won a silver medal at the Olympics and a gold at the Asian Games. Guro provides modern sports facilities to improve the health of Guro residents.
City buses run on major streets and the town buses reach every corner of the district where city buses do not, providing convenient public transportation to residents. The Gyeong-in (Seoul-Incheon) motorway runs through Guro and has a median bus lane system which allows buses to avoid heavy traffic, and the buses that provides services to Incheon International Airport take about one hour from the district.
Acting as Vice-Chair City of Global Cities Dialogue (GCD)[2] for the Asian Region, Guro District has also participated at the World e-Gov Forum[3] as the guest of honour and Mayor Yang gave a speech during the Opening Ceremony. Also, a close sister relationship with Issy-les-Moulineaux created the Guro Esplanade in Issy and hoisted the flag of South Korea in front of the City Hall of Issy-les-Moulineaux. Guro District hosted the e-Participation Forum from February 7 to February 9, 2007 with the participation of 700 people from more than 37 countries.
Issy-les-Moulineaux, France
Pingdu, People's Republic of China Tongzhou, People's Republic of China
Chapel Hill, United States Dadong, People's Republic of China Xiangfang, People's Republic of China
 Gungdong Ecological Park |
 A Concert by the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Myung-Whun Chung in Guro |
 Handprinting Ceremony Honoring Mayors from around the World |
 The Anyang Stream at night |
 Guro-gu Public Medical Centre |
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