Dongjak-gu Mayor Lee Chang-woo and Songpa-gu Mayor Park Seong-su Lead Post-Corona Proactive Response for Daily Life Recovery

[Seoul District News] Lee Chang-woo, Mayor of Dongjak-gu, Holds Meeting with Executives on the Morning of the 18th to Discuss Post-COVID-19 Recovery Plans for a Better Life... Park Seong-su, Mayor of Songpa-gu, Leads Successful Daily Recovery! Comprehensive Support Begins

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Dongjak-gu (Mayor Lee Chang-woo) has become the first among Seoul’s 25 autonomous districts to prepare a plan for daily life recovery.

The mayor did not run in the June 1 local elections, which appears to have allowed him to focus on preparing measures to address the most important livelihood issue currently: the post-COVID response.

Following the government’s announcement of the ‘Post-Omicron Response Plan,’ the district held a disaster safety and quarantine countermeasure meeting on the 18th to prepare post-COVID response measures in line with the full lifting of social distancing.

The meeting, held at the district office auditorium, brought together the Dongjak-gu mayor and executives to discuss ways to restore the daily life lost due to COVID-19, focusing on ▲economic recovery ▲resident communication ▲facility reopening ▲living environment improvement ▲recovery support, and was shared with all staff via real-time video.

The meeting explored various policies including ▲revitalization of the local economy and improvement of living environment ▲local festivals for resident communication ▲normalization of public facility operations ▲support for daily life recovery.

Additionally, given the significant economic damage suffered by small business owners who were unable to operate normally due to prolonged social distancing measures, the meeting focused on support measures that could directly assist approximately 15,000 small business owners in the area.

Lee Chang-woo, Mayor of Dongjak-gu, stated, “As the decline in COVID-19 cases has stabilized, the district has proactively prepared daily life recovery plans. We will concentrate our efforts on economic recovery policies closely linked to residents’ livelihoods to regain the daily life lost to COVID-19.”

He added, “In the post-COVID era, we will make every effort to ensure residents can enjoy a better life than before COVID-19 and live safely. Since infection prevention in daily life has become crucial, we repeatedly urge everyone to follow personal quarantine rules such as wearing masks and washing hands.”

The mayor continued, “I would like to thank the local medical personnel and frontline workers who have done their best to protect the lives and safety of residents over the past two years and one month, and also express gratitude to the residents who have endured restrictions on daily life and cooperated with quarantine measures for a long time.”

Songpa-gu (Mayor Park Seong-su) is launching comprehensive support to help residents recover their daily lives following the lifting of social distancing.

On the 18th, when social distancing was lifted, Park Seong-su, Mayor of Songpa-gu, held an emergency meeting of the Disaster Safety Countermeasures Headquarters and said, “I thank the residents who actively cooperated over the past two years and one month, and especially the small business owners who complied with quarantine rules for the community despite the hardships caused by business restrictions. We will promptly provide support to help residents successfully recover their daily lives.”

First, the district will fully reopen multi-use facilities it operates and actively run programs.

About 790 multi-use facilities including senior centers, welfare facilities, sports facilities, community centers, and women’s cultural centers will operate normally. In addition, programs that were conducted online such as job fairs, employment programs, and free counseling will be converted to in-person formats, and various public services including culture, arts, and education will be expanded to help residents regain vitality.

Various support payments to revitalize the local economy will also be implemented.

Support will be provided for small business owners who closed due to business restrictions, including Songpa-type interest-free loans for small business owners, loans for small and medium enterprises, support for good landlords, freelancers, freight transport operators, and unemployed youth, offering tailored assistance for groups affected by social distancing.

In particular, efforts will focus on strengthening management and resident guidance for infection-vulnerable facilities to prevent local COVID-19 spread.

Since some quarantine guidelines remain for infection-vulnerable facilities such as nursing hospitals, nursing facilities, and rehabilitation centers, the district will strengthen quarantine management through preemptive testing of workers and ‘visiting vaccinations.’

Alongside this, the district will promptly inform residents about the significantly changed quarantine guidelines, COVID-19 situation, and support details to minimize confusion. Multi-channel publicity activities will be conducted through the district’s official website, text messages, SNS channels, newsletters, and leaflets to support stable daily life recovery.

Park Seong-su, Mayor of Songpa-gu, said, “Although social distancing has been lifted, COVID-19 is not over. Please continue to follow daily quarantine rules such as vaccination, wearing masks, and hand washing. Songpa-gu will focus on residents’ health and safety and work hard to lead a swift recovery of daily life.”