[Interview] Park Junhee, Gwanak-gu Mayor: "Creating an Inclusive City Where No One Is Left Behind"

Ordinance Enacted to Promote Discovery of At-Risk Households in Gwanak-gu, Seoul, Enhancing At-Risk Household Discovery Culture
Public-Private Cooperation Forms 'Gwanak Life Love TF Team'... Initiatives Like JooJoo Day and Sintongbangtong Welfare Platform Developed to Prevent Solitary Deaths

"The proportion of single-person households in Gwanak-gu is 62%, the highest in the country. To prevent their social isolation, the district is building various human safety nets and is doing its best together with all Gwanak-gu employees to identify vulnerable households in a way that suits Gwanak's characteristics."

Park Jun-hee, Mayor of Gwanak-gu, emphasized, "We are creating an inclusive city where no one is left out."

According to a loneliness death survey conducted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare in 2022, loneliness deaths have increased by an average of about 8.8% annually over the past five years. This is due to various social factors such as the increase in single-person households, the transition to an aging society, and COVID-19, which have led to severed human relationships, loss of economic power, and social isolation regardless of age.

Since the causes and targets of isolation are diverse and complex, it is more important than ever to newly review policies and systematically manage support for single-person households and the prevention of loneliness deaths. Accordingly, Gwanak-gu is making every effort to prepare various policies to early identify and prevent vulnerable households that are socially isolated as factors that promote social disconnection increase.

Mayor Park stated, "To establish a foundation for the prevention and management of loneliness deaths, we enacted the 'Ordinance on the Activation of Vulnerable Household Identification in Gwanak-gu, Seoul' last year, further promoting a culture of identifying vulnerable households in the region and dedicating all administrative capabilities to prevent loneliness deaths."

At the 'Discussion on Strengthening the Discovery and Support of Welfare Blind Spots through Public-Private Cooperation' held in November 2022, opinions were raised to analyze the status of loneliness deaths unique to Gwanak-gu, derive risk factors for loneliness deaths, and form a loneliness death prevention task force (TF) to prepare suicide and loneliness death prevention measures. Consequently, the public-private dedicated team 'Gwanak Life Love TF Team' was also formed.

The 'Gwanak Life Love TF Team' conducted its own analysis based on the results of the '2021 Seoul Loneliness Death Risk Status Study' published by the Seoul Welfare Foundation (Dr. Song In-ju, 2022), deriving risk factors related to loneliness deaths such as age group, gender, disease, residence, and occurrence timing.

In particular, it discovered Gwanak-gu's key loneliness death prevention projects such as 'Intensive Monitoring of Welfare Recipients in High-Risk Neighborhoods for Loneliness Deaths,' 'Juju Day (a day when residents watch over residents),' and the 'Shintongbangtong Welfare Platform' (a project linked with local real estate agencies to connect welfare resources starting from actual residence before moving-in registration).

Additionally, this year the district is operating the 'Starlight Visiting School' for 30 newly identified case management subjects with reclusive and isolated tendencies and their families, supporting daily life activities (shopping and cooking together), emotional regulation, and family psychological counseling to help them regain confidence and facilitate smooth social reintegration.

Moreover, last year the district connected the 'Smart Check-in Service' using smart technology to a total of 528 households and linked it with 'Our Neighborhood Care Team,' dedicated personnel for checking on high-risk welfare recipients, and provided meal support such as 'Sharing a Happy Meal.' Through public-private cooperation, customized care services and necessary resources were provided. The district also deployed 'Annyeong Salpimi,' dedicated care personnel for high-risk loneliness death groups supporting the social networks of isolated households, in every neighborhood to create a more meticulous welfare management network.

These efforts led to Gwanak-gu being selected as the best local government in the 'Loneliness Death Prevention and Management Policy Foundation Establishment' category hosted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Korea Social Security Information Service last year, earning the Minister of Health and Welfare Award.

Mayor Park Jun-hee said, "The most important first step in social isolation is to take an interest in and communicate with neighbors in difficulty around us. We will continue to create a happy Gwanak with no marginalized groups by linking various local resources so that neighbors can watch over those in need."