On February 4 at 2:00 p.m., North Gyeongsang Province held a groundbreaking ceremony for the "Gyeongbuk-Ae Maru Low Birthrate All-Care Center" at the former Kyobo Life Insurance building in downtown Andong.
More than 100 people attended the ceremony, including North Gyeongsang Province Governor Lee Cheolwoo, North Gyeongsang Provincial Council Chair Park Sungman and provincial council members, Andong Mayor Kwon Kichang, Andong City Council Chair Kim Kyungdo and city council members, as well as citizen representatives.
Participants at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Andong Low Birthrate All-Care Center are cutting the ribbon.
The "Gyeongbuk-Ae Maru Low Birthrate All-Care Center" was selected in 2024, along with Sokcho in Gangwon Province and Iksan in North Jeolla Province, for the "Region-Customized Integrated Support Center for Marriage, Childbirth, and Childcare" project organized by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, which utilizes idle facilities in the community to provide integrated support for insufficient childbirth and childcare services.
The center will be created in the former Kyobo Life Insurance building, an underused space in the city center (one basement floor and four above-ground floors, with a total floor area of 2,254 square meters), by investing a total of 5 billion won, including 3.8 billion won in special grants, by December 2026, turning it into a space that young people and parents struggling with childbirth and childrearing can visit at any time.
The facilities will include: (Meeting) community facilities for young people; (Childbirth) classrooms and counseling rooms for mothers and fathers; (Childcare) a shared care center; and (Women’s Jobs) a "Job Convenience Store." Through these, it is expected that service gaps that may arise throughout the entire process of childbirth and childrearing can be resolved in one place.
North Gyeongsang Province plans to enhance the effectiveness of its policies and expand integrated hub facilities tailored to the characteristics of each region by linking the center with the public postnatal care center for the northern region of North Gyeongsang Province, which is scheduled to be built in 2027, and with the "Childcare-Friendly Dure Village" project, a region-customized community care initiative that will begin in 2026.
Governor Lee Cheolwoo of North Gyeongsang Province said, "Even now, there are various childbirth and care-related services in the region, but people face difficulties using them because the facilities are small or the services are fragmented, and in many cases it is even hard to know whether they are eligible for support," and added, "Going forward, we will work with cities and counties to spread integrated hub models like the 'Gyeongbuk-Ae Maru Low Birthrate All-Care Center' so that residents of the province can feel secure about having and raising children."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
