Hwasun-gun Receives Minister of the Interior and Safety Award for 'Multicultural Policy Award'

Hwasun County, Jeollanam-do (Governor Gu Bok-gyu) was honored with the Minister of the Interior and Safety Award at the '11th Multicultural Policy Awards' ceremony held at the Korea Press Center on the 27th (Wednesday).

According to Hwasun County on the 28th, this Multicultural Policy Award recognized institutions, organizations, and individuals who have led multicultural policies and contributed to related policy development. Awards were given in seven categories including the Minister of the Interior and Safety Award, Minister of Gender Equality and Family Award, Segye Ilbo President Award, and Special Awards, covering grand prizes, excellence awards, and special awards.

Since January 2023, Hwasun County has been the first nationwide to establish and operate a ‘Dedicated Multicultural Team for Nationals’ to support multicultural families and marriage immigrant families who face difficulties adapting locally due to language and cultural differences, aiming for stable family life and early settlement in the community.

The multicultural team consists of five fixed-term public officials who are marriage immigrant women from Vietnam, China, the Philippines, Japan, and Cambodia. They assess the living conditions of multicultural families and provide diverse multicultural welfare services tailored to each individual, including guidance and linkage to various welfare services such as ▲welfare information ▲jobs ▲hospital accompaniment.

Additionally, the team offers customized services for seasonal workers from their home countries, including interpretation, counseling on difficulties, and accompaniment for banking tasks. Recently, they have played roles in international exchange events by performing interpretation and translation duties at ▲a business agreement related to the export of Hwasun agricultural specialties with a Japanese company ▲an industrial business agreement with Nan District, Shaoxing City, China ▲and the '2024 Hwasun Orchid Premium Expo,' helping to promote local culture.

Gu Bok-gyu, Governor of Hwasun County, stated, “We will continue to do our best to create a community where no one is marginalized by strengthening connections with various institutions such as family centers and administrative welfare centers through interpretation and translation projects for families of marriage immigrant women from minority countries, mentoring projects for newly arrived immigrants and multicultural families struggling to adapt to the local community, and effectively addressing social issues of multicultural families.”