Excellent Grade in Ministry of the Interior and Safety Investment Plan Evaluation
Return to Farming and Rural Areas, Worker Welfare, Youth Attraction, etc.
[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Choi Soon-kyung] Sancheong-gun, Gyeongnam Province, has secured 16.8 billion KRW from the government’s local extinction response fund to promote population increase policies focused on returning to farming and rural areas, worker welfare, and youth attraction.
Sancheong-gun received an excellent rating in the local extinction response fund investment plan evaluation conducted by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, securing 16.8 billion KRW (7.2 billion KRW in 2022, 9.6 billion KRW in 2023).
The county presented the vision of “Attractive Life in Jirisan, Clean Nature without Fine Dust” to promote the local extinction response fund investment project.
By analyzing Sancheong-gun’s problems, strengths, and potential, three major goals were derived: becoming a healthy and long-living Sancheong, enabling continuous work in Sancheong, and building relationships in Sancheong.
In this investment plan evaluation, the projects were well-structured around themes such as returning to farming and rural areas, worker welfare, and youth attraction (11 projects in 2022, 12 projects in 2023).
To establish the project plan, the county went through a process of gathering local opinions (youth meetings, returning to farming and rural areas meetings, population vitality idea contests and surveys) and actively analyzed current issues through population vitality forums, county officials’ working-level team leader meetings, and department head reporting sessions.
Sancheong-gun received an excellent rating not only because the strategy, goals, and projects were well presented but also because it designed projects focused on hardware with high feasibility.
The county plans to finalize detailed projects through internal coordination to ensure effectiveness in increasing the population and achieving Sancheong-gun’s mid- to long-term vision.
First, projects will be organized to make Sancheong a healthy space, a desirable place to live, and a space to enjoy.
Specifically, hardware projects include ▲ Maechon U-turn Settlement Creation ▲ Geumseo Work-Life Balance UP Dormitory Construction ▲ San-en Cheong Youth Base Camp Creation.
County Governor Lee Seung-hwa said, “We expect the local extinction response fund investment project to be a catalyst for increasing our county’s population,” and added, “We will do our best to overcome the local extinction crisis by uniting not only local residents but all public officials.”
The local extinction response fund is a project launched for the first time this year, where the government evaluates investment plans submitted by local governments designated as population extinction areas and supports them with 1 trillion KRW annually for 10 years.
The Ministry of the Interior and Safety reviewed investment plans submitted by 89 local governments designated as population extinction areas and assigned grades as follows: A grade (21 billion KRW) to 4 places (5%), B grade (16.8 billion KRW) to 13 places (15%), C grade (14 billion KRW) to 39 places (45%), D grade (12.6 billion KRW) to 18 places (20%), and E grade (11.2 billion KRW) to 15 places (15%).
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