Geumcheon-gu Promotes Various Integrity Policies Including Designation of 'Integrity Day'

[Seoul District News] Geumcheon-gu Operates 'Integrity Day' to Enhance Organizational Trust and Foster Anti-Corruption and Integrity Awareness - Promotes One Integrity Policy per Department and Encourages Autonomous Integrity Activities Involving All Departments... Gwangjin-gu Recruits 7th Youth Participation Committee... Songpa-gu's 'Hope Planner,' a Hope Ladder for Small Business Owners, Receives Great Response... Gangdong-gu Offers Children's Digital Education with Robot 'Riku'... Gwanak-gu Recruits Venture and Startup Companies Seeking Technical Consulting Support... Yeongdeungpo-gu Holds Contest for Library Empathy Message Board Wording

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Geumcheon-gu is promoting various integrity policies, including the designation of an ‘Integrity Day,’ to establish a culture of integrity within the public service community.

This is a measure to improve internal integrity, which was relatively weak in the recent integrity evaluation. The key tasks include ▲operating Integrity Day ▲one integrity policy per department ▲integrity status survey ▲restructuring the human rights violation reporting center, among others.

The designation of ‘Integrity Day’ aims to encourage active participation from all employees, thereby fostering anti-corruption and integrity awareness and enhancing employees’ positive organizational mindset.

On every Thursday of the last week of each week and month, ‘Integrity Day’ features ▲‘Sudden Integrity Quiz Day,’ where cultural gift certificates are given to the first quiz participants ▲‘Praise Relay Season II,’ a shared bulletin board announcing stories and good deeds related to integrity, kindness, and work support ▲and ‘Integrity Morning Broadcast,’ where new employees to senior officials share integrity cases to start the workday.

Additionally, Geumcheon-gu operates ‘One Integrity Policy per Department,’ where each department practices specialized integrity activities. This year, 46 policies across 10 tasks in 2 fields have been developed and are autonomously implemented by each department through creating an integrity environment, meetings, education, and promotion.

Departments that operate these policies will receive incentives (monetary rewards) if outstanding, and excellent cases will be shared with all departments to encourage active promotion of integrity policies.

Furthermore, policies for ‘mindfulness’ to understand employees’ thoughts are also being promoted. First, an integrity status survey will be conducted in the first half of the year to grasp members’ perceptions of organizational culture.

Also, the existing online human rights violation counseling system will be revamped and operated to foster an organizational culture based on understanding and respect.

Jung Hong-sik, the Civil Complaints and Audit Officer, said, “These internal integrity improvement policies are expected to strengthen public officials’ integrity and serve as an opportunity to solidify employees’ firm anti-corruption and integrity commitment,” adding, “This year, we will strive to become an integrity-friendly organization based on trust among employees and an integrity-recognized Geumcheon by residents.”

Gwangjin-gu is recruiting members for the ‘7th Gwangjin-gu Youth Participation Committee 2022.’

The ‘Gwangjin-gu Youth Participation Committee’ was established in 2016 to gather diverse opinions from youth and encourage active participation and activities during the policy-making process related to youth.

Applicants must be youth aged 9 to 24 who reside in Gwangjin-gu or attend school in the district. A total of 30 members will be selected through document screening and interviews.

The Youth Participation Committee will be active for one year from August this year to July next year. Major activities include ▲discovering youth policies and projects and proposing opinions ▲participating in youth capacity-building workshops and democratic citizenship education ▲youth protection campaign activities ▲network exchange activities among youth participation organizations.

Youth members will receive volunteer hours for campaign participation and commendations from the district mayor for outstanding activities.

Additionally, they will be given priority recommendations for Seoul city youth participation organization members and learning mentoring, and receive activity allowances and various support benefits.

Youth wishing to participate can fill out the application form posted on the Gwangjin-gu website by June 3, and submit it by visiting the nearest community service center or the Gwangjin-gu Child and Youth Division, or by email. They can also access the QR code on the promotional poster to submit the application.

For other inquiries about the 7th Gwangjin-gu Youth Participation Committee, contact the Gwangjin-gu Office website or the Child and Youth Division.

Songpa-gu announced on the 11th that it is receiving great responses by directly visiting local small business owners and self-employed individuals through ‘Hope Planners’ to guide them on various support policies, thereby injecting hope into the local economic recovery.

Since August 2019, the district has hired five small business experts as ‘Hope Planners’ who visit business sites to understand difficulties, provide tailored policy guidance according to situations, and assist with application procedures when necessary, offering various forms of support.

In particular, for elderly store owners, they accompany them to submit documents on-site and provide assistance, proactively delivering information on disaster relief funds, finance, employment insurance, startup, and closure support policies, acting as a ladder of hope to help small business owners overcome crises.

According to the district, stories of small business owners empowered by the Hope Planners’ efforts continue to emerge.

A, who runs a side dish store in Garakbon-dong, had given up on applying for support measures due to difficulties but regained management will after receiving support for the Keeper Fund, Seoul City Accompany Project, and facility improvement projects with the help of a Hope Planner.

B, an elderly owner of a snack bar in Macheon 1-dong, received not only small business disaster relief funds application and payment support but also free artificial joint surgery provided by the Elderly Medical Sharing Foundation through a Hope Planner.

C, who operates a beauty salon in Macheon 2-dong, was in despair when the reported amount on the VAT taxable standard certificate did not qualify for government disaster relief funds. However, through a Hope Planner, the income declaration was reviewed and corrected, enabling receipt of support funds.

D, who was considering closing a restaurant in Seokchon-dong, received help when the Hope Planner informed about the revised Commercial Lease Protection Act and connected support related to closure, despite difficulties in terminating the lease contract.

In addition, Songpa-gu added that messages of gratitude and encouragement from local small business owners who have been helped by Hope Planners are continuously being delivered through the district website’s ‘Let’s Praise’ bulletin board.

A district official said, “Although it is a difficult time for everyone due to the prolonged COVID-19 situation, we will do our best to help small business owners overcome management difficulties and recover the local economy.”

Gangdong-gu will officially operate digital education with the AI robot ‘Riku’ for children in local daycare centers starting in May.

The newly renewed ‘2022 Robot Utilization Digital Education’ course this year introduces interesting new content such as the ‘7 Major Child Safety Education’ included in the Nuri Curriculum and ‘Art Play with Riku,’ raising expectations.

‘Riku’ is a humanoid educational robot introduced by the Seoul Digital Foundation since 2020 for children’s digital cultural education.

Through the new content ‘Art Play with Riku,’ the robot ‘Riku’ reads 12 kinds of traditional fairy tales such as ‘The Sun and the Moon’ and ‘Kongjwi and Patjwi’ to children with a clear voice and vivid expressions.

‘Riku’ can engage in simple conversations and perform cute movements, providing children with a special opportunity to freely experience AI robots and satisfy their curiosity about robots.

Also, the ‘7 Major Child Safety Education’ based on the Nuri Curriculum helps children easily understand situations requiring safety precautions, expecting effective safety education at home and kindergarten.

A district official said, “We plan to actively support providing children with opportunities to experience robots, the epitome of the latest technology, to develop essential digital device utilization skills in modern times and enhance creativity through robot-linked education.”

Gwanak-gu announced that it will carry out the ‘2022 Technology Consulting Support Project’ for venture and startup companies facing difficulties in technology development.

The project aims to solve technology development difficulties of venture and startup companies by utilizing technologies owned by universities and research institutes for prototype development and product improvement, supporting the discovery of new growth engines and driving sustainable growth of companies.

This project is conducted jointly by the SNU Engineering Consulting Center of Seoul National University and the Corporate Cooperation Office of the Korea Electronics Technology Institute (KETI), which have signed a business agreement with Gwanak-gu. Each institution will analyze technology difficulties and provide optimal solutions.

All companies wishing to receive technology consulting can choose their preferred consulting institution. The first technical consultation (simple) analyzes technology and identifies problems, and the second technical consultation (in-depth) provides detailed consulting to solve the problems.

Applicants must be venture or startup companies within seven years of establishment based on technology and have at least two R&D personnel. Ten companies will be recruited on a first-come, first-served basis, with up to KRW 10 million (20% self-payment) supported per company.

All requests will receive the first technical consultation, and companies wishing to receive subsidies through the second technical consultation must relocate their headquarters to Gwanak-gu within one month from the selection date.

Companies wishing to apply can check the announcement on the Gwanak-gu Office website (News & Notices → Announcements), download the application form, and submit it by email.

A district official said, “This consulting is expected to serve as a stepping stone for venture and startup companies stalled due to technology development difficulties to grow to the next level,” adding, “We will continue to actively support venture and startup companies to contribute to creating quality jobs and revitalizing the local economy.”

The outer wall of Yeongdeungpo-gu Library will be newly transformed into an empathy bulletin board conveying hope and comfort.

The district announced that it will post empathetic message boards with emotional phrases inside and outside public libraries and small libraries in the area and is accepting submissions for the messages to be engraved on the boards until May 16.

The theme of the messages should be easy for residents to understand and include reflections or feelings experienced in daily life, warm comfort, hope, or encouragement.

Messages must be purely original phrases within 30 characters excluding spaces, and anyone can participate without qualification restrictions. However, only one entry per person is allowed, and if multiple entries are submitted, only the first will be considered.

Submissions can be made online via the Yeongdeungpo-gu website, by mail, or in person.

Applicants can submit their messages and explanations through the Yeongdeungpo-gu website under Citizen Participation → Participation Square → 2022 Empathy Message Board Submission page, or send them by mail or visit the Library Team of the Future Education Division on the 4th floor of Yeongdeungpo-gu Office.

Submitted works will be evaluated based on originality, symbolism, sincerity, and emotional impact (empathy), selecting a total of five works. One grand prize winner, one excellence awardee, and three honorable mentions will receive certificates and gift certificates.

The results will be posted on the Yeongdeungpo-gu website’s announcement board at the end of May and winners will be notified individually.

The selected messages and empathy boards will be displayed at public libraries and various libraries in the area from June to August, allowing visitors to freely enjoy them.

For more details about the empathy message board submission, contact the Future Education Division of Yeongdeungpo-gu.

A district official said, “We hope many residents will participate and share their small daily lives and precious experiences through the empathy message boards,” adding, “We will continue to strive to promote reading and operate library cultural experience programs so that many people can gain dreams, comfort, wisdom, and courage at libraries.”