[Interview] Jung Won-oh, Seongdong-gu Mayor: "Focusing on Livelihood Policies for Small Business Owners and Unemployed Facing the COVID-19 Crisis"

116 Additional Public Job Positions Selected for Unemployed Facing Livelihood Difficulties...Social Economy Activation Fund Expanded to 600 Million Won with Private Capital Matching Increased from 30% to 100%...‘Seongdong Anshim Sangga’ Rent Payment Deadline Postponed, Late Fees and Maintenance Fees Reduced to Ease Tenant Burden...Support for Local Small Businesses with 3D Printer Use for Parts and Prototype Production

[Asia Economy Reporter Jong-il Park] “We must focus on helping residents facing crises such as job loss due to the economic downturn caused by COVID-19 and revitalizing the local economy.”

Jung Won-oh, Mayor of Seongdong-gu, said in an interview with Asia Economy, “We will expand public job programs to support livelihoods in response to COVID-19.”

Since the first confirmed case on February 19, Seongdong-gu has reported six confirmed cases to date. The district office is making a concerted effort with all staff to protect residents’ health and safety through operating screening clinics, conducting disinfection activities, and distributing masks. Now, in addition to safeguarding residents’ health, the district plans to focus on revitalizing livelihoods endangered by COVID-19.

First, priority participation opportunities in public job programs will be provided to unemployed individuals facing livelihood difficulties, small business owners forced to suspend operations, and workers in related industries due to COVID-19. Besides the existing 150 public job positions for the first half of the year, the district selected an additional 80 people for 10 projects in the first round in February.

Also, from March 16 to 20, a public recruitment will be held to select 116 people for 16 projects in the second round. The selected personnel will work for three months starting at the end of March on tasks such as disinfecting multi-use facilities to prevent COVID-19, delivering ordered goods from traditional markets, and producing and distributing cloth masks through cooperation among the public, private, and academic sectors. The project expenses will be fully supported by city funds.

Mayor Jung said, “Non-regular workers, part-timers, and small business owners are immediately threatened in their livelihoods by COVID-19. We hope public jobs can provide even a little help to them.”

Along with this, Seongdong-gu expanded the scale of the Social Economy Activation Fund through collaboration with the private sector. To support social economy organizations struggling due to COVID-19, the ratio of private capital to district funds was increased from the previous 30% to 100%, significantly enlarging the fund size.

The loan scale increased from a total of 270 million KRW last year to 600 million KRW this year, enabling more social economy organizations to receive loan support. Mayor Jung stated, “Since 2017, we have supported 27 companies with loans totaling over 1.7 billion KRW. In preparation for the prolonged COVID-19 situation, public-private cooperation is more important, so we have greatly increased private capital.”

Measures were also prepared for tenants of ‘Seongdong Anshim Shopping Center,’ the starting point of the ‘Good Rent’ initiative. The ‘Seongdong Anshim Shopping Center’ is the nation’s first public safety shopping center symbolizing anti-gentrification policies. It rents commercial spaces at 50-70% of surrounding market prices for long terms of 5 to 10 years, allowing tenants, small business owners, and young entrepreneurs driven out by rising rents to operate with peace of mind. As the building owner, Seongdong-gu decided to defer rent payments until the end of August and waive late fees for 12 neighborhood living facilities, including restaurants, art galleries, flower shops, and bookstores, struggling due to the prolonged COVID-19 crisis.

For all 38 businesses occupying the eight-story building, basic management fees will be waived for six months. Although the management fees are already about 35% lower than nearby shopping centers, this waiver will reduce the burden by 100,000 KRW to 1,000,000 KRW per unit monthly. Mayor Jung said, “In difficult times, mutual cooperation between landlords and tenants is essential. Besides the Anshim Shopping Center, rents for neighborhood living facilities in Seongsu 1-ga 2-dong Public Complex Building will be reduced by 25% for six months, and building owners of private shopping centers are also increasingly participating in rent reductions, so everyone is joining forces.”

Additionally, at the ‘Makerspace,’ in cooperation with the Seoul Forest Social Innovation Sharing Foundation, free production of parts using 3D printers is provided for local small business owners, along with support for prototype production for new product development.

In February, 6.5 billion KRW of the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Fund for the first half of the year was provided early, and so far, 3.238 billion KRW has been loaned to 30 companies.

Furthermore, to revitalize the commercial district in Sageun-dong, about 1,670 employees from Seongdong-gu Office, public corporations, and cultural foundations used restaurants and coffee shops in Sageun-dong during lunch hours.

Jung Won-oh, Mayor of Seongdong-gu, said, “We will implement various policies that provide practical help to small business owners especially affected by the economic downturn and weakened consumer sentiment due to the spread of COVID-19, as well as to unemployed individuals and non-regular workers whose livelihoods are threatened.”