[Seoul District News] Oh Eon-seok, Dobong-gu Mayor, Acts as One-Day Mayor of Banghak 2-dong on the 2nd, Reflecting His Commitment by Listening to Residents' Opinions and Experiencing the Hard Work of Community Center Staff & Engages in Village Cleaning, Civil Service Guidance, Resident ID Card Delivery, Installation of Care Plugs for Elderly Living Alone... Gangbuk-gu Supports and Expands National Health Insurance Premiums for Low-Income Residents
On June 13, Oh Eun-seok, the Mayor of Dobong District, visited the homes of local senior citizens in Banghak 2-dong through the "With the Mayor! Into the Field!" one-day district chief activity to check on their well-being.
[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Oh Eon-seok, the mayor of Dobong-gu, is carrying out the role of the head of the neighborhood office through the “With the Mayor! Into the Field!” one-day neighborhood head activity to bring the administration closer to the residents with a field-centered empathetic administration.
The “one-day neighborhood head” reflects Mayor Oh Eon-seok’s administrative philosophy of listening to voices from the field and finding answers on site.
Mayor Oh plans to meet residents of all 14 neighborhoods by performing various duties usually carried out by neighborhood heads, such as guiding civil complaints at unmanned civil service kiosks, visiting neighborhood project sites, attending neighborhood meetings, patrolling the area, and cleaning the village.
The first “one-day neighborhood head” event was held in Banghak 2-dong. Early in the morning on the 13th, Mayor Oh visited the site and cleaned the alleys together with residents.
Volunteer residents who joined the village cleaning with the mayor discussed inconveniences in daily life and local issues with him, and also directly informed the mayor about the hard work of the neighborhood community center staff during the COVID-19 period.
Mayor Oh said, “I believe that the safety and welfare of employees must be high for administrative services to improve. I will take this opportunity to review and improve the working environment and frontline administrative difficulties together.”
Following this, Mayor Oh visited the home of Mr. Jang, an elderly resident who had lived without official registration for about 70 years but recently obtained resident registration through a year-long effort by Banghak 2-dong staff. The mayor personally handed over the issued resident ID card and heard Mr. Jang’s impressions.
Mayor Oh explained, “Eating well is important, but seeing your dentures, I think you should visit a dentist. Now that you have your ID, you can go to the hospital and receive support from the neighborhood community center.”
Visiting another elderly resident living alone, Mayor Oh personally installed a ‘Care Plug’ device and checked on the resident’s well-being. The Care Plug is a device that sends alerts to the responsible public official if there is no change in power consumption or brightness for a certain period, indicating interest, risk, or serious condition. Upon receiving the alert, the official contacts or visits the person to check on their status.
As he left the home, Mayor Oh expressed his commitment, saying, “In line with the city administration’s priority of accompanying the vulnerable, the district must strengthen care for the vulnerable groups,” and showed his determination to focus on identifying blind spots in care.
As the last task of the one-day neighborhood head, Mayor Oh attended the October Senior Citizens’ Month commemorative event. The mayor approached the elderly, who had missed the event for two years due to COVID-19, and personally checked on each of them.
Mayor Oh Eon-seok of Dobong-gu said, “Since our district has 14 neighborhoods, I consider that there are 15 mayors including myself. The role of neighborhood heads who perform frontline administrative duties is very important. Through the one-day neighborhood head activity, I realized again the importance of communication on site and had time to think about what to improve. I will continue to dive into the field to create policies that residents can feel and need.”
Gangbuk-gu (Mayor Lee Soon-hee) will expand and support the National Health Insurance premiums from the November payment to alleviate the burden on low-income households.
This project is implemented following the change in the standard amount of health insurance premiums (including long-term care insurance premiums) supported for low-income households from 16,440 KRW to 21,890 KRW.
The National Health Insurance premium support project is conducted year-round, and additional support based on the revised standard will begin from the November payment.
Eligible recipients are households receiving housing benefits, education benefits, and near-poverty class households with monthly health insurance premiums of 21,890 KRW or less. Applicants in the current month will receive support from the following month, so residents who want to receive support for November’s health insurance premium must apply by October 31.
Residents wishing to apply can visit their local community service center. For more details, contact the Life Security Division of Gangbuk-gu Office.
Regarding the National Health Insurance premium support project, the district already fully supported 12.38 million KRW for the September premiums of 1,098 households selected last month on the 10th.
Lee Soon-hee, mayor of Gangbuk-gu, said, “I hope many residents in need will apply and receive help. We will continue to work harder to improve the health of low-income residents facing difficulties and to build a stable social welfare safety net.”
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