Nowon-gu 'Children and Youth Sports Festival' to be Held

[Seoul District News] The 4th Nowon-gu Mayor's Cup Children and Youth Festival to be held across Nowon-gu from July to October; 5 events including 3-on-3 basketball, futsal, jump rope, cheerleading, and swimming, free participation... Dongjak-gu sends congratulatory cards with messages to about 3,300 19-year-old youths on Coming-of-Age Day... Seocho-gu holds events such as 'Mind Healing' for Youth Month in May... Gwangjin-gu hosts 'Sseudam Running' picking up trash while jogging and a Youth Environmental Debate... Mapo-gu, Health Jin

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Nowon-gu announced that it will hold the ‘4th Nowon-gu Mayor’s Cup Children and Youth Sports Festival’ to support the healthy growth of children and adolescents.

The district has been hosting the sports festival for four years to promote leisure activities for children and adolescents and to advocate for their right to play. This year, compared to the previous festivals which were downsized due to COVID-19, the number of participating sports has been greatly expanded, and the promotion and duration of the festival have been extended to create a festival where more people can enjoy together.

The sports festival added more significance by actively collecting opinions from children and adolescents during the planning process and selecting participating sports, thereby realizing the participation rights of children and adolescents as the main protagonists of the festival.

The competition will begin with participant recruitment for each sport from May 16 to June 15, followed by an opening ceremony on July 2 to mark the start of the sports festival.

Preliminary and main matches for each sport will be held until September, with the quarterfinals and semifinals scheduled for October. Certificates and medals will be awarded to the top three winners in each sport.

The competition sports include 3-on-3 basketball, futsal, jump rope, cheerleading, and swimming, totaling five events. These were selected to be popular among children and adolescents and to allow diverse participation by gender and age group. Matches for each sport will be held at Junggye Community Sports Center and Nowon Youth Center, among other venues.

The district will implement safety measures such as assigning safety instructors, conducting thorough warm-up exercises and hygiene education to prevent accidents among participants. Additionally, injury insurance will be subscribed to, an emergency response system will be established, and individual notifications will be sent to participants’ parents to ensure safety.

Eligibility varies by sport, but any child or adolescent aged 6 to under 18 years who resides in Nowon-gu or attends school in the district can participate, with no participation fee to uphold the principle of non-discrimination. However, students registered as athletes with the Korea Sports Council or relevant sports organizations since March 2020 are restricted from participating.

Children and adolescents wishing to participate can submit their application forms via the pre-announced QR code by June 15.

Detailed eligibility and specific operational guidelines for each sport can be found on the Nowon-gu Office website. For other inquiries, contact the Nowon-gu Sports Council or the district’s Children and Youth Division.

A district official stated, “As a child-friendly city that prioritizes children’s interests, we planned a sports leisure festival where children and adolescents are the main protagonists. We hope this festival will provide an opportunity for children to experience the joy of running and sweating, growing happily and healthily.”

Dongjak-gu (Mayor Lee Chang-woo) announced on the 16th that it sent ‘Coming of Age Day congratulatory cards’ to 19-year-old youths in Dongjak-gu who are turning twenty this year in celebration of Coming of Age Day.

To mark the 50th Coming of Age Day, the district sent cards containing messages of hope and challenge for turning twenty to approximately 3,300 youths born in 2003 who are 19 years old.

The congratulatory cards were created for the first time this year by the district to encourage youths becoming adults in Dongjak-gu to have pride and dreams and to step forward as members of society.

The card includes an encouraging message: “Congratulations on the exciting start of your twenties, and we support that every moment ahead of you shines brilliantly!” It also expresses the thrilling moment of Coming of Age Day through an acrostic poem of Dongjak-gu.

Kim In-sook, Director of the Children and Youth Division, congratulated the youths, saying, “We hope our youths, taking their first steps into society, will grow with dreams and develop further with Dongjak-gu toward a bright future as leaders of tomorrow.”

Additionally, the district is preparing to open the ‘Daebang Youth Culture House Bunker,’ a youth creative innovation experience space transformed from an old underground military bunker in Noryangjin Neighborhood Park, Daebang-dong. The ‘Bunker’ will be equipped with an ICT (Information and Communication Technology) sports zone, a metaverse online center, a YouTube workshop, and other spaces where youths can communicate, grow, and create memorable experiences.

Furthermore, the district took the lead in establishing the first Youth Day ordinance in Seoul last July, designating the last Saturday of May each year as Youth Day to enhance youths’ active and autonomous sense of ownership and to foster a community atmosphere where Dongjak-gu residents participate in youth development.

Seocho-gu prepared an event at the public Bangbae Youth Center to provide healing for youths and families in celebration of Youth Month in May.

This event aims to offer healing to youths who have been mentally and physically exhausted due to COVID-19 and to support various cultural activities following the full lifting of social distancing measures.

First, on the 27th, the ‘Mind Talk Talk! Festival’ will be held at Seomdeul Neighborhood Park in Umyeon-dong (24 Taebong-ro 2-gil, Seocho-gu). This event, organized jointly by Bangbae Youth Center, Seocho-gu Youth Counseling Welfare Center, Seocho Education Welfare Center, and the Green Tree Foundation, will feature a mind-healing busking performance and a mind-refreshing counseling bus to help youths cultivate healthy emotions.

Additionally, to prevent school violence, various experience booths will be operated, including ▲Friendship Recharge Station ▲You Quiz enjoying School Violence Prevention OX Quiz ▲Friend Keeper Challenge.

On the 21st, ‘Bangbae Youth Day’ where families can experience booths together and ‘Rooftop Singer,’ a karaoke singer contest to relieve stress, will be held at Bangbae Youth Center.

‘Bangbae Youth Day’ includes ▲Family physical play experience ‘You Are My Love Energy’ ▲‘Cookie Random Game’ where participants receive cookies made by the youth baking club through games ▲‘Eco Bag Making’ to protect the environment, helping families build intimacy. Visitors will also receive cotton candy as a gift.

‘Rooftop Singer,’ which selects the best karaoke singer in Seocho-gu, is a singing contest held in the center’s cozy rooftop coin karaoke room, where the final 15 contestants who pass the preliminary round compete, allowing youths to freely showcase their diverse talents and skills.

Also, ‘Midi School’ uses the center’s Seocho FM Tongtong Pod Studio and Tongtong TV one-person media studio to experience webtoon recording and media production activities.

Bangbae Youth Center spans floors 1 to 5 with a total floor area of 1,760 m² and is equipped with various cultural facilities available for use by youths and residents at all times. The shared kitchen ‘Tongtong Cook’ is open to any residents interested in cooking, and the youth-only space ‘Cozy Rooftop Room’ features a free coin karaoke, retro arcade machines, PCs, books, and comics, making it popular among youths.

For more details, contact the Bangbae Youth Center website or the center directly.

Seo Chung-min, Director of the Children and Youth Division, said, “We hope that cultural activities, which had been restricted due to COVID-19, will become active again through this event. We will continue to operate various festivals and programs for youths to support healthy cultural activities.”

Gwangjin-gu is operating ‘Small Changes That Change the World, Sseudam Sseudam,’ an environmental protection program for about 200 children, adolescents, and parents.

This project is part of the domestic environmental restoration campaign ‘Earth Sseudam’ launched by the Environmental Foundation in 2020. It was designed to foster correct values regarding environmental issues by encouraging proactive participation in local environmental improvement from adolescence.

The Sseudam Sseudam program consists of pre-education, ‘Sseudam Running,’ and a ‘Youth Environmental Debate.’

Participants including children, adolescents, and parents complete pre-education on the project’s purpose, activity methods, and accident prevention, then autonomously carry out Sseudam Running activities from June to August.

‘Sseudam Running’ is an activity where participants jog while picking up trash, allowing anyone to easily combine exercise with environmental protection as a small practice to change the world.

Environmental protection activities through Sseudam Running can be done anytime and anywhere such as Achasan Mountain and the Han River. There is no limit to the number of activities, and participants need to submit a reflection essay with photos once.

In September, a youth environmental debate will be held to discuss experiences from Sseudam Running, conduct environmental education on issues and zero waste practices, and provide time to contemplate and devise solutions for environmental problems.

Participants in pre-education, Sseudam Running, and the environmental debate can receive up to 5 hours of volunteer activity credit. After completing pre-education, participants will be provided with an activity kit including masks, gloves, and tongs necessary for Sseudam activities.

The application period is from May 16 to May 27. Residents wishing to apply can register online via the Gwangjin-gu website, with applications accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. For more details, contact the Gwangjin-gu Office Education Support Division.

Mapo-gu announced on the 16th that it will support the issuance fee for health examination certificates (formerly health certificates) issued by private medical institutions.

This is to alleviate the financial burden on food and hygiene workers who must use private medical institutions due to the temporary suspension of health examination services at public health centers caused by the spread of COVID-19. The issuance fee for health examination certificates is 3,000 KRW when using public health centers but ranges from 20,000 to 45,000 KRW at private institutions.

The district signed agreements with private medical institutions in the area to support the issuance fees until the health examination certificate issuance service at public health centers is fully resumed.

The institutions that signed agreements include ▲Seoul Bon Internal Medicine Clinic ▲Yonsei W Clinic ▲Yonsei Uri Internal Medicine Clinic ▲Korea Occupational Health Research Foundation Seoul DMC Health Clinic ▲Uri Seongmo Internal Medicine Clinic ▲Hansarang Clinic ▲Yonsei Kim Jin-min Clinic, totaling seven locations.

Accordingly, Mapo-gu residents or business owners and workers with workplaces in the district can receive health examination certificates by paying only 3,000 KRW, the same fee as at public health centers.

When visiting the private medical institutions partnered with Mapo-gu Health Center for examination, applicants must submit the application form along with additional documents such as a business registration certificate and employment verification issued within the last month from the examination date.

The application form can be downloaded from the Mapo-gu Health Center website. For more information, contact the Mapo-gu Office Health Administration Division.