[Seoul District News] Gwanak-gu Wins Excellence Awards in Community Social Security Plan Implementation and Visiting Health and Welfare Services; Receives Top Award in National Local Government Disability Welfare Evaluation... Seongdong-gu Wins 7 Awards in 2021 Regional Welfare Project Evaluation... Yangcheon-gu’s Sinwol 1-dong Hosts Seo Seoul Market, First Registered 'Golmok-type Shopping Street' in Area... Geumcheon-gu Dementia Relief Center 'Gieokdabang' Selected as Best Case for Civil Service Improvement... Eunpyeong-gu Operates Resident Participation Online Platform 'Chamyeoui Keunsup'... Seoul Korean Medicine Promotion Center Seoul Medical Tourism
[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Gwanak-gu (Mayor Park Jun-hee) has been honored with an award for three consecutive years in the '2021 Government Welfare Administration Evaluation' hosted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
The 'Government Welfare Administration Evaluation' is an assessment conducted annually by the Ministry of Health and Welfare targeting 17 cities and provinces and 229 cities, counties, and districts nationwide. It selects local governments that have improved the level of social security in their regions through cooperation between residents and administration tailored to local characteristics and conditions.
Accordingly, the district won the Excellence Award in the 'Annual Implementation Results of the Local Community Security Plan' category, setting a new record of winning for three consecutive years from 2019 to this year, and also received the Excellence Award in the 'Provision of Visiting Health and Welfare Services' field.
Additionally, it won the Grand Prize for the first time this year in the 'National Local Government Disability Welfare Project Evaluation,' solidifying its status as an excellent local government in the overall welfare administration field.
The district plans to allocate 500 billion KRW of the total 905.7 billion KRW budget for next year to welfare, an increase of 110.4 billion KRW compared to the previous year, and implement various customized policies to enhance welfare satisfaction across residents' lives.
Among them, seven major promotion strategies including ▲ fostering a healthy future generation ▲ creating a safe and clean environment ▲ a vibrant life for a secure old age shared together ▲ healthy families and happy homes ▲ creating and supporting vital jobs ▲ establishing a cooperative foundation for a happy community together ▲ community care, with 46 detailed projects, will newly add projects related to single-person households and focus on implementing them to practice 'Together Happy Prime Welfare Gwanak.'
In the field of providing visiting health and welfare services, the district plans to strengthen the public-private cooperation system by promoting the 'Local Community-Based Single-Person Household Health and Welfare Support Project' for low-income single-person households and the 'Meal Kit' project to prevent solitary deaths among middle-aged and older single-person households, presenting a Gwanak-type crisis family discovery and support model, and actively responding to prevent solitary deaths to build a meticulous welfare safety net.
In the disability welfare field, new projects such as distributing companion robots (ChaniBot) to provide smart integrated care services for solitary disabled persons and installing the nation's first wheelchair-only driving practice ground will be promoted to implement detailed policies for the disabled.
A district official said, "The achievement of Gwanak-gu winning consecutively in the 2021 Government Welfare Administration Evaluation is a valuable result of the staff who passionately identified and promptly provided necessary welfare services to residents in need despite difficult conditions," adding, "We will continue to build a warm and strong welfare community through communication with residents."
Seongdong-gu (Mayor Jeong Won-oh) achieved the honor of winning seven awards in the '2021 Regional Welfare Project Evaluation,' marking five consecutive years of awards.
The Regional Welfare Project Evaluation, held to discover and spread exemplary cases of regional welfare projects conducted over the past year, evaluates 17 welfare fields across 229 cities, counties, and districts nationwide. It selects awardees through a rigorous process including qualitative and quantitative evaluations of detailed indicators and on-site inspections.
The district won awards in seven fields: social service job creation, social security benefit inspection management, social service center operation support, social security benefit post-management, provision of visiting health and welfare services, social economy activation, and childcare policy, receiving two grand prizes, two excellence awards, and three merit awards simultaneously.
Seongdong-gu's awards are evaluated as the result of differentiated, resident-centered administration based on 'kindness' and sincere communication from the 6th to the 7th term of the elected government over the past six years.
In the grand prize-winning 'Social Service Job Creation' field, the district was recognized for creating 8,439 jobs across 106 projects including 'Seongdong Future Job Corporation operation,' 'Household care services for pregnant women,' and 'Seongdong Purumi Recycling Station operation.' In the 'Social Security Benefit Inspection Management' field, efforts to efficiently execute welfare budgets through institutional improvements such as operating a dedicated team for welfare fraud detection and establishing a reward system for reporting fraud (June 2021) were also highly evaluated.
In the 'Social Service Center Operation Support' field, which evaluates participation in private support projects, cooperation system establishment, and specialized project promotion, the Seongdong Comprehensive Home Care Center, the first social service center installed in Seoul, received high marks for various efforts to activate projects such as substitute workforce support. Along with the 'Social Security Benefit Post-Management' field, which faithfully managed service recipients and complied with processing deadlines, the district won the Excellence Award.
In the 'Provision of Visiting Health and Welfare Services' category, which achieved a record of five consecutive years of awards since 2017, continuous efforts to improve the welfare delivery system such as deploying welfare consultation specialists and strengthening one-stop comprehensive counseling, as well as crisis response to health and welfare demands due to With-COVID-19 including the 'Strong Meal Enjoyment Center' and the Hope Vaccine project for psychological quarantine, earned high evaluations, resulting in a merit award along with the 'Social Economy Activation' field.
The 'Social Economy Activation' field, awarded consecutively since last year, was praised for excellent problem-solving within the region through participation in social economy organizations such as 'Understand Avenue' supporting youth employment and entrepreneurship and the online learning 'Geulbang' tailored for children from multicultural families.
In the 'Childcare Policy' field, the district won a merit award for meticulous COVID-19 quarantine responses such as supporting teaching materials, educational tools, and disinfection machines to daycare centers, providing visiting toy rentals, and continuous mask supply for childcare staff and children. The district also implemented differentiated childcare policies including organic lunch snack packages, special activity expenses, social insurance fees, transparent masks, and parent education to support children, parents, and daycare centers exhausted by prolonged closures.
Mayor Jeong Won-oh of Seongdong-gu said, "Winning seven awards in the Regional Welfare Project Evaluation and achieving five consecutive years of awards once again demonstrates the excellence of Seongdong-gu's regional welfare," adding, "We will not be complacent and will do our best to create an inclusive welfare Seongdong by promoting various projects tailored to residents' welfare needs."
Yangcheon-gu registered 'Seoseoul Market (area around 13, Gomdallae-ro, Sinwol 1-dong)' as the first 'Alley-type Shopping District' in the region.
Previously, traditional markets and shopping districts required that retail and wholesale stores account for more than 50% of business establishments to be registered, making it difficult for alley commercial areas densely populated with service stores such as restaurants to register as markets.
However, in February 2020, the Traditional Market Act was amended to establish the 'Alley-type Shopping District,' allowing local governments to designate areas with 30 or more small business-operated stores within 2,000 square meters regardless of business type as 'Alley-type Shopping Districts' according to local ordinances. Accordingly, Yangcheon-gu enacted the Seoul Metropolitan City Yangcheon-gu Alley-type Shopping District Activation Support Ordinance in July this year to lay the groundwork for supporting small businesses. Registered markets or designated alley-type shopping districts can receive various project supports hosted by the government and Seoul city.
The 'Seoseoul Alley-type Shopping District (formerly Seoseoul Market),' naturally formed around 2006 and operating for about 15 years, had continuously tried to register as a traditional market since 2017 but failed to meet the 50% retail and wholesale store ratio required by the existing Traditional Market Act, making registration difficult. Consequently, it lacked resources for facility improvements and had relatively outdated facilities and business environments.
Yangcheon-gu has been working to revitalize the 'Seoseoul Alley-type Shopping District' since June this year by establishing a self-maintenance line, incorporating the unregistered market into management, and forming a merchants' association. Merchants cooperated with the same spirit, resulting in the first achievement of registering as the first alley-type shopping district.
Through this registration, the 'Seoseoul Alley-type Shopping District' will receive various project supports hosted by the government and Seoul city like traditional markets and shopping districts, improving facilities and business environments, enhancing customer accessibility through Onnuri gift certificate registration, and increasing merchants' sales, achieving two goals at once.
Kim Young-hwa, president of the merchants' association, said, "We expect this registration of the 'Seoseoul Alley-type Shopping District' to revitalize the commercial area depressed by COVID-19, and we thank Yangcheon-gu for their efforts in registration."
Kim Soo-young, mayor of Yangcheon-gu, said, "Following the registration of the 'Seoseoul Alley-type Shopping District,' we will sequentially register unregistered markets and shopping districts in the region as traditional markets or alley-type shopping districts to further strengthen the competitiveness of small businesses in the district."
Geumcheon-gu (Mayor Yoo Sung-hoon) announced that 'Memory Cafe' operated by the Geumcheon-gu Dementia Safety Center was selected as an excellent case of civil service improvement in Seoul.
The excellent civil service improvement cases were decided through expert evaluation and online citizen voting among 61 excellent policies submitted by Seoul city, autonomous districts, and affiliated organizations.
'Memory Cafe' is a cafe where elderly people diagnosed with mild dementia or mild cognitive impairment participate as baristas, symbolizing various ways to preserve memory. Also, a basic rule at Memory Cafe is to naturally understand if the ordered menu differs from what is served.
Previously operated as a mobile cafe, a fixed cafe was established in the lobby of the Geumcheon-gu Dementia Safety Center to continuously improve the cognitive abilities of the elderly, and full-scale operation began in May. By enabling the elderly to play roles as social members and interact with neighbors, it greatly helped improve residents' awareness of dementia.
Yoo Sung-hoon, mayor of Geumcheon-gu, said, "Memory Cafe was planned to convey the message that people with dementia can still play roles as social members, which is significant for improving dementia awareness," adding, "We will continue to do our best to make Geumcheon a place where residents with mild dementia and cognitive impairment can interact with neighbors."
Eunpyeong-gu (Mayor Kim Mi-kyung) operates the resident participation online platform 'Participation Big Forest.' The need for non-face-to-face communication channels for residents has increased due to COVID-19 and the discovery of new residents' participation, and the platform was established for two-way communication through introducing activities and information exchange following expanded resident participation.
'Participation Big Forest' is an online resident participation platform where more residents can routinely participate in proposing, deliberating, and executing processes to solve community problems and share resident participation activities.
The district operates unit groups such as 16 neighborhood resident autonomy committees, youth, and adolescents to unify communication spaces, allowing any resident to propose various ideas for a better Eunpyeong in unit groups based on daily inconveniences. Residents can participate in discussions by commenting on proposals and develop the content.
Proposals selected as voting targets can participate in selecting next year's execution projects through resident voting and resident general meetings. Thus, residents can routinely participate in proposing, discussing, and voting.
Additionally, the platform shares the progress of how proposed projects are selected and executed and shares resident participation activities in each unit, allowing residents to enjoy participation.
Kim Mi-kyung, mayor of Eunpyeong-gu, said, "We hope many residents participate so that the resident participation online platform, which anyone can join anytime and anywhere, can be activated by reflecting diverse voices of residents."
Gangdong-gu (Mayor Lee Jung-hoon) received the Minister of Health and Welfare Award.
Every year, the Ministry of Health and Welfare selects excellent local governments in the 'Provision of Visiting Health and Welfare Services' field and conducts regional welfare project evaluations to discover exemplary cases. This year, Gangdong-gu was selected as an excellent local government nationwide in 2021, recognizing its efforts in proactive administration to detect welfare blind spots.
The district has made multifaceted efforts for proactive detection and support, including ▲ activating welfare blind spot detection systems ▲ establishing welfare resource delivery systems ▲ strengthening visiting health and welfare counseling ▲ enhancing integrated case management capabilities ▲ building public-private cooperation support systems to overcome COVID-19. Notably, the operation of the 'Our Neighborhood Senior Care Team' for welfare recipient monitoring, the 'Care SOS Center,' and the opening of the 'Single-Person Household Support Center' were key factors for the award.
Additionally, the district appointed new honorary social welfare officers from workers in daily life-related industries and actively operates the 'Find-Dong Resident-led Welfare Community,' where the closest neighbors discover and help vulnerable households in crisis.
Moreover, Gangdong-gu was the first in the nation to enact the Hope Stepping Stone Fund Ordinance, planning to support the self-reliance of low-income residents and socially vulnerable groups such as children leaving social welfare facilities who face economic difficulties.
Mayor Lee Jung-hoon of Gangdong-gu said, "We are actively promoting various projects such as strengthening welfare blind spot detection systems and visiting health and welfare counseling to provide practical support to vulnerable residents hidden in welfare blind spots," adding, "We will do our best to realize welfare that benefits more residents through more detailed health and welfare services in the future."
Seongbuk-gu (Mayor Lee Seung-ro) was selected as the grand prize-winning complex for the Seoul Metropolitan Government's Apartment Community Activation Project for two consecutive years.
On the 14th, Seongbuk-gu held the 2021 Apartment Community Activity Sharing Meeting and presented a trophy to Jongam SK Apartment, which won the grand prize at this year's Seoul Metropolitan Government Community Activation Project Excellence Case Presentation.
Among 2,258 complexes, Seoul selected seven complexes as excellent cases of apartment community activation from 243 complexes participating in the 2021 project through document evaluation of 44 complexes and the Excellent Case Selection Committee's review. The presentation was held on the Seoul Metropolitan Government's YouTube channel on the 9th, selecting Jongam SK in Seongbuk-gu as the grand prize winner.
Additionally, Seongbuk-gu's Dream Forest Kolon Haneulchae (small complex with fewer than 500 households) was selected as the 2021 Seoul Metropolitan Government Model Management Complex and recommended to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport as an excellent management complex.
The grand prize-winning Jongam SK Apartment is a large complex with 1,318 households. To resolve conflicts and disputes within the complex, it formed the community activation group 'SK Together' and has been conducting community activation projects since 2020 under the motto 'Jongam SK united by joy.' This year, it held community activities such as veranda concerts, flea markets, pottery classes, craft classes, basketball classes, and environmental film festivals, sharing talents among neighbors and fostering participation and harmony across generations.
At the '2021 Seongbuk-gu Apartment Community Activity Sharing Meeting' held that day, complexes participating in this year's contest gathered to share their activities and achievements. The district presented appreciation plaques to 40 complexes and organizations that actively promoted the project. Following this, presentations on community activation and open apartment best practices were held for Jongam SK Apartment and Dream Forest Kolon Haneulchae Apartment. Additionally, small exhibitions of works such as fashion painting, DIY cutting boards, napkin art, and pottery attracted residents' attention.
Seongbuk-gu actively promotes community activation projects to foster a cooperative and communicative open apartment culture. This year, 68 complexes in the region participated in the contest, conducting various projects such as concerts, film festivals, walking competitions, hobby classes, non-face-to-face cultural lectures, and drawing contests.
Previously, Seongbuk-gu was selected as an excellent case complex in the Seoul Metropolitan Government's Community Activation Project for five consecutive years. Donam Kumho Eoullim Apartment won silver awards for two consecutive years in 2017 and 2018, Wolgok Raemian Luna Valley Apartment won gold and grand prizes in 2019 and 2020, and this year Jongam SK Apartment won the grand prize.
Gwangjin-gu (Mayor Kim Sun-gap) is recruiting participants ahead of the '2022 First Half Gwangjin-type Happy Job Project.'
The Gwangjin-type Happy Job Project was established under the Seoul Metropolitan City Gwangjin-gu Job Creation and Employment Promotion Support Ordinance to provide jobs to residents facing difficulties due to the economic downturn caused by COVID-19.
The project period is three months from January 1 to March 31 next year and will be flexibly operated according to future government project plans. The total number of recruits is 130.
Selected participants will perform tasks related to COVID-19 response and prevention, including ▲ managing visitor access at the district office ▲ supporting contact tracing and field investigations ▲ supporting operations of screening clinics and temporary screening centers ▲ supporting call center operations.
Working conditions vary slightly by project, with 4 to 8 hours per day and 2 to 5 days per week. Wages are based on the 2022 Gwangjin-gu living wage, applying an hourly rate of 10,766 KRW.
The recruitment period is until the 20th. Applicants must be physically healthy residents registered in Gwangjin-gu as of the announcement date (December 13). However, depending on individual projects, preference is given to young and middle-aged people who can use computers and SNS and those capable of diligent customer service.
Applications are accepted non-face-to-face. Interested persons can download the application form from the Gwangjin-gu website, fill it out, and submit it via the dedicated email (gwangjin123@citizen.seoul.kr) or fax.
After the recruitment period ends, the district will select participants through document screening and applying project-specific preference criteria and announce the results on the website on the 24th. For inquiries, contact the Gwangjin-gu Job Policy Division's Job Policy Team.
Mayor Kim Sun-gap of Gwangjin-gu said, "We are promoting the '2022 First Half Gwangjin-type Happy Job Project' to support department manpower needs in response to the rapidly spreading COVID-19 and provide jobs to residents in difficulty," adding, "We hope many interested residents participate."
Dongjak-gu (Mayor Lee Chang-woo) announced on the 15th that since June, it has completed the installation of two women's safety mirror paths and one narrow space safety path within the district to ensure safe return home for crime-vulnerable groups such as children and women.
The project targeted areas densely populated with one-room, multi-family, and multi-household residences prone to crime exposure to prevent crime and secure safe living zones, realizing a women-friendly city.
The selected sites were recommended by the community service center and Dongjak Police Station and finalized through on-site inspections by Dongjak-gu and Dongjak Police Station. Monitoring opinions from the Women-Friendly City Resident Participation Group were also collected during the selection process.
Since 2014, starting with Sangdo 4-dong, the district has created a total of 15 'Women's Safety Mirror Paths' in areas including Sangdo 1-dong and Sadang 1-dong up to this year.
Women's Safety Mirror Paths install mirror sheets and acrylic mirrors at apartment entrances and parking lots. These allow pedestrians to see the faces of potential criminals behind them when entering the front door, preemptively deterring criminal psychology and crime. Additionally, 'Dongjak-gu Safety Mirror Path' road markings are placed at the entrance of the safety mirror paths.
Alongside, the district created 'Narrow Space Safety Paths' in narrow and low-light security-vulnerable alleys.
The Narrow Space Safety Paths install solar-powered lighting devices called 'solar beacons' attached to the ground, which store sunlight during the day and emit light at night to illuminate dark alleys.
Starting with Sangdo 3-dong last year, the district created two Narrow Space Safety Paths this year, including Daebang-dong. However, due to road conditions and many shaded areas in Daebang-dong, battery-type beacons were installed considering risk and effectiveness.
The district plans to additionally create women's safety mirror paths and narrow space safety paths in the first and second halves of next year to ensure residents can return home safely.
Kim Kyung-ok, head of the Childcare and Women's Division, said, "Installing mirror sheets and beacons using Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) techniques on dark alleys with high crime rates will not only prevent criminal psychology in advance but also improve residents' sense of safety."
Jung-gu, Seoul (Mayor Seo Yang-ho) announced on the 15th that it will intensively manage fine dust in the Dasan-ro area from this month to March next year during the fine dust seasonal management period.
The 'Fine Dust Seasonal Management System' is a system that designates December to March, when high concentrations of fine dust frequently occur, as a focused management period to implement strong fine dust reduction policies.
With the Dasan-ro area (0.7 km²) designated as a fine dust intensive management zone by Seoul city in January, the district secured a subsidy of 260 million KRW. Accordingly, it began focused management of fine dust emission sources in residential areas adjacent to traffic-congested areas in Dasan-ro.
From May to October, the district installed various exposure reduction facilities in fine dust vulnerable facilities in the area.
First, 42 locations such as daycare centers and senior centers were equipped with window-attached ventilation systems to improve indoor air quality; the Sindang Comprehensive Social Welfare Center and Sindang Nuri Center installed IoT-based smart air showers; and dust-absorbing mats were installed at the ground entrances and exits of the Youth Center.
On the outer wall of Cheonggu Elementary School building adjacent to Dasan-ro road, climbing plants were planted to create a green curtain that blocks fine dust, reduces road noise, and provides shade from sunlight in summer.
The district strengthened guidance and inspections of dust-generating workplaces and air emission facilities and intensified crackdowns on vehicle emission violations and engine idling. It also formed a policy council to promote the fine dust intensive management zone.
In March, the district was selected in the '2021 Autonomous District Specialized Contest for Fine Dust Reduction,' receiving 420 million KRW from the city. Adding 130 million KRW from the district budget, it plans to install 227 window ventilation air purifiers at 62 locations such as elementary after-school care centers and volunteer centers within this month.
During the fine dust seasonal management period, the district plans to operate dust suction vehicles to improve air quality.
Seo Yang-ho, mayor of Jung-gu, said, "We will continue to promote life-centered fine dust reduction projects that residents can feel and do our best to protect residents' health from harmful environments."
Yeongdeungpo-gu (Mayor Chae Hyun-il) selected 18 childcare workers from daycare centers who contributed to the healthy growth of infants and toddlers and the development of childcare projects this year and awarded them the '2021 Childcare Project Meritorious Service Award.'
Despite the prolonged spread of COVID-19, the district actively discovered meritorious childcare workers who have worked to create a childcare environment without care gaps and foster a healthy childcare culture, expressing gratitude for their dedication and boosting their pride and morale as childcare professionals.
This year's awardees include four daycare center directors, 13 excellent childcare teachers, and one childcare specialist, totaling 18 people.
Previously, to exclude favoritism unrelated to merit, the district set selection criteria such as ▲ significant contributions to improving childcare service quality ▲ long-term daycare center workers serving as role models in infant and toddler care ▲ contributions to COVID-19 response, and conducted thorough pre-verification and fair and objective evaluations through the merit review committee.
The award ceremony was not held separately to ensure the safety of childcare workers and prevent COVID-19 spread according to social distancing guidelines. Instead, letters of appreciation and certificates signed by the district mayor were delivered to express gratitude and congratulations for their efforts and dedication.
One awardee, Hwang Ok-jin, director of Kkokkoma Daycare Center, said, "I sincerely thank the staff who comforted childcare workers discouraged by COVID-19 and will do my best to minimize childcare gaps."
The district plans to continue various policy projects to improve childcare workers' treatment, such as childcare research and development, healing program operation, and placement of assistant teachers, substitute teachers, and childcare helpers, striving to create a safer and more trusted childcare environment.
Chae Hyun-il, mayor of Yeongdeungpo-gu, said, "I sincerely thank the awardees who showed exemplary dedication with a strong sense of mission on the front lines of childcare and all childcare workers who work behind the scenes to help our children grow up healthy and happy," adding, "We will pay more attention to improving childcare workers' treatment, creating a safe childcare environment, and establishing care policies."
Seongbuk-gu (Mayor Lee Seung-ro) is conducting the 'Youth Dream Finding' entrepreneurship experience education as a 2021 public-private cooperation project and will hold the '2021 Seongbuk-gu Youth Entrepreneurship Competition' online for seven days from the 15th to the 22nd to promote youth challenge, value, and growth.
The 'Youth Dream Finding' program is a Seongbuk-gu specialized career program for future competency development, conducted for middle and high school students in the region.
For high school students, entrepreneurship experiences in media and big data fields were conducted in connection with startups located in Seongbuk-gu. For middle school students, AI-based 'Smart Startup LAB' programs were operated in connection with clubs and free semester systems.
This online 'Seongbuk-gu Youth Entrepreneurship Competition' is held for nine middle schools in Seongbuk-gu that participated in the Dream Finding program.
Students formed teams to recognize problems in daily life and derived various ideas to solve problems in their own innovative ways.
They also analyzed the strengths and weaknesses, demand, and revenue structure to see if their ideas could develop into startups, concretizing team entrepreneurship ideas with AI-based business plans.
The competition, held to evaluate such efforts and foster entrepreneurial spirit, will advance only one best team per school to the finals after preliminaries. Finalist teams' ideas will be produced as 1-2 minute videos and subjected to online voting during the competition period.
A district official said, "We hope this competition becomes a good opportunity for students to develop interest, challenge spirit, and thinking skills regarding surrounding problems," adding, "Especially, the time spent coordinating opinions through cooperation and communication with team members will be a valuable educational process."
The 10 entrepreneurship idea videos submitted by schools for this competition will be posted on a dedicated platform, and online voting will be held from December 15 to 22.
Residents of Seongbuk-gu, including students, parents, and teachers interested, can access the link during the competition period and participate in voting. The team receiving the most votes through multiple voting will be selected as the best team.
The 10 entrepreneurship idea videos can also be viewed on the Seongbuk Youth Future Support Center YouTube channel. For details, contact the Youth Future Support Center.
Dongdaemun-gu (Mayor Yoo Deok-yeol) Seoul Korean Medicine Promotion Center (Seoul Yakryeongsi Korean Medicine Museum) was finally selected as a 'Seoul Medical Tourism Cooperation Institution' hosted by the Seoul Tourism Foundation.
The 'Seoul Medical Tourism Cooperation Institution' is a project hosted by the Seoul Tourism Foundation to enhance tourists' trust in Seoul's medical tourism and strengthen public-private cooperation by selecting and supporting medical institutions, tourism service institutions, and foreign patient attraction institutions located in Seoul through multiple stages of strict document and on-site evaluations.
About 162 institutions including Dongdaemun-gu were selected as 'Seoul Medical Tourism Cooperation Institutions.' The Seoul Korean Medicine Promotion Center, a representative wellness facility of Dongdaemun-gu, was highly recognized for ▲ convenience facilities for foreign tourists ▲ medical tourism plans and cooperation measures ▲ promotional marketing efforts ▲ awards and certification history, leading to final selection.
With this selection, the Seoul Korean Medicine Promotion Center will receive various supports such as medical tourism promotion opportunities, domestic and international marketing, networking among cooperation institutions, and tourist experience fees for center activation from the Seoul Tourism Foundation for three years starting in 2022.
Yoo Deok-yeol, mayor of Dongdaemun-gu, said, "I am pleased that the Seoul Korean Medicine Promotion Center, a wellness facility combining 'health' and 'cultural life,' was selected as a Seoul Medical Tourism Cooperation Institution following its selection as a wellness tourism destination recommended by the Korea Tourism Organization," adding, "We will continue to strive to show a better image in preparation for the increasing number of domestic and foreign tourists."
The Seoul Korean Medicine Promotion Center (Seoul Yakryeongsi Korean Medicine Museum) allows entry only to tourists with quarantine passes according to the revised social distancing measures on December 6. There are no restrictions on the number of people for exhibitions, experiences, and education facilities, and operations comply with private gathering guidelines.
Gangbuk-gu (Mayor Park Kyum-soo) posted life-respecting promotional materials in multi-use facilities to prevent residents' extreme choices.
The district attached 173 suicide prevention promotional materials to shopping cart guideboards and laminated sheets in seven large marts. It also broadcast life-respecting promotional messages on media boards installed outside department store elevators in the district.
The media boards and guideboards contain warm life-respecting phrases such as 'We are by your side! Let's share difficult feelings together.' They include contact information for ▲ Gangbuk-gu Health Center Life Respect Team ▲ Gangbuk-gu Mental Health Welfare Center ▲ Nighttime and holiday mental health counseling.
Based on this project, the district plans to enhance accessibility to suicide prevention counseling information, strengthen the discovery of high-risk groups, and focus more on suicide crisis counseling and case management. It plans to expand suicide prevention projects by further promoting publicity using media boards and shopping carts in marts not yet participating and placing materials in apartment elevators.
Park Kyum-soo, mayor of Gangbuk-gu, said, "We have worked to improve residents' awareness of life respect and increase accessibility to suicide prevention counseling information to prevent extreme choices," adding, "We will do our best to operate multifaceted prevention projects so that all residents with healthy minds can live happy lives."
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