Sangju City Begins Full-Scale Operation of Smart Welfare City and Smart Senior Centers

Combining the Spirit of Jonshinaewon with Digital Technology

Sangju City in North Gyeongsang Province (Mayor Kang Youngseok) announced that on the 10th it held an opening ceremony for the Jonshinaemul Smart Senior Center at the Grand Performance Hall of the Cultural Center to bridge the digital divide among senior citizens and support an active later life, and that full-scale operations have now begun.

Smart Senior Center Opening Ceremony Held / Provided by Sangju City Hall

The event was attended by Kang Youngseok, Mayor of Sangju; Yoon Moonha, head of the Sangju branch of the Korean Senior Citizens Association; Ahn Kyungsuk, Chairperson of the Sangju City Council; Nam Youngsook, Gyeongbuk Provincial Assembly member; and other key local figures, together with about 200 senior center users, who celebrated the opening.

This project was selected in a public contest for the 2025 Smart Village Distribution and Expansion Project hosted by the Ministry of Science and ICT, and has since been carried out. In December last year, Sangju City completed the establishment of a real-time, two-way online video system at 40 senior centers and 1 studio within the city.

Through this system, senior citizens using the centers can now enjoy in real time, at their local senior centers, high-quality leisure and welfare programs such as health exercise classes, singing classes, and dementia-prevention education that are broadcast from the studio twice a week.

Sangju City has also been selected again for the 2026 public contest project and plans this year to equip an additional 50 senior centers. To ensure the solid operation of the Smart Senior Centers, the city will assign 40 Smart Assistants through senior employment programs and will accelerate the development of a variety of content tailored to the needs and perspectives of older adults.

An official from Sangju City stated, "We will do our utmost to ensure that the Smart Senior Centers can be reborn as digital community hubs where neighbors communicate, share the joy of learning, and help senior citizens regain their vitality," and added that, going forward, "in the spirit of Jonshinaemul, we will pursue welfare administration that cares for the lives of our senior citizens more attentively and warmly."