Gwangju Dong-gu's 'Local Extinction Response' Population Vitality Policy Promotion

Photo by Gwangju Metropolitan City Dong-gu Office.

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Junho] Dong-gu, Gwangju Metropolitan City announced on the 19th that it will actively promote local extinction response population vitality policies reflecting the results of a resident demand survey.

This policy was implemented with the goal of creating a "Healing Dong-gu where all residents are happy."

Dong-gu has actively worked to discover policies in line with population change trends, including enacting the Basic Ordinance on Population Policy and initiating a research project to establish a five-year basic plan for population policy.

Additionally, in February, Dong-gu was designated as a local extinction concern area by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, which added support from the "Local Extinction Response Fund," giving momentum to the implementation of population crisis response policies.

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety plans to designate 89 local governments at risk of extinction due to population decline and 18 concern areas, supporting the "Local Extinction Response Fund" with 1 trillion KRW annually for 10 years, totaling 10 trillion KRW.

Among the five autonomous districts in Gwangju, Dong-gu was designated as a concern area at risk of extinction and will receive financial support ranging from an average of 2 billion KRW to a maximum of 4 billion KRW annually.

If the investment plan is submitted by the end of this month, the fund is expected to be granted in August after evaluation.

Accordingly, to expand the living population and improve residential conditions, Dong-gu conducted a "resident demand survey" and discovered 31 independent projects for local extinction response population revitalization based on ▲ improvement of cultural and experiential facilities ▲ improvement of childcare environment ▲ housing cost support.

Among these, after reviewing project feasibility through consulting with the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and expert advice, the key projects selected for promotion are ▲ "Chungjang Sang-sang Cube Creation," a cultural, tourism, and festival hub facility ▲ "Village Sarangchae Creation," a resident-led communication and sharing platform ▲ "Dong-gu Style Alley Regeneration," tourism product development utilizing humanities resources ▲ and "Children Humanities Play," utilizing humanities hub facilities.

To actively promote the projects, Dong-gu recently held a working group meeting composed of 15 departments across three fields to discuss establishing an organic cooperation system between departments, linkage plans, and investment plan formulation.

A Dong-gu official said, "We will do our best to create a 'city where people want to live and visit, Healing Dong-gu' through continuous population inflow due to the expansion of the living population and improvement of residents' quality of life."