Gwangju City News

From the Gwangju Metropolitan City Press Release (http://gwangju.go.kr)

Gwangju City announced on September 1, 2022, that it has been selected as an excellent institution among 17 metropolitan cities based on the 2021 National Safety Education Survey, which was conducted by the Ministry of Public Administration and Security, after first being selected last year.

The National Safety Education Survey is a system that evaluates the previous year’s safety education progress among safety education-promoting institutions – for instance, local government – in accordance with Articles 7 and 17 of the Framework on the Promotion of Safety Education for Citizens.

It was first conducted in 2019 to share the best practices of each institution and to facilitate improvements in areas lagging behind.

The inspection of central city and provincial departments was conducted by a central safety education inspection team composed of private experts and public officials. Five autonomous regions were inspected by the city inspection team first, followed by the central inspection team.

The inspection teams evaluated 56 detailed indicators in six areas, including (a) the establishment of a safety education promotion system, (b) activation of safety education, (c) expansion of safety education mainly into experiences, (d) developing and sharing safety education, textbooks, and programs, (e) nurturing and utilizing professional skilled workers in regard to safety education, and (f) the establishment of social safety education supporting system.

The following facilities and practices of Gwangju City have been evaluated as good: (a) Bitgoeul National Safety Experience Center (eight experience zones, 23 experience facilities), (b) opening and operating the Citizen Safety Education Center for region-specific safety experience education, and (c) resolving blind spots in safety education by promoting customized safety experience education for each vulnerable group.

Gwangju City plans to share the good results of the safety education inspection with each autonomous district, prepare improvements for insufficient areas, and reflect on them in the 2022 Safety Education Implementation Plan.

In this regard, Gwangju City received the “2021 Safety Culture Awards” presidential commendation last year for practicing differentiated safety culture policies, such as making the first temporary quarantine facilities for overseas entrants among local governments and for its selection as having safe neighborhoods, schools, and companies.

Gwangju City has taken the first step toward making itself an “Exciting Tourist City where people want to visit and stay again and again.” The city held a meeting at the Kimdaejung Convention Center on August 22 to prepare a plan to promote tourism in order to transform into a city that is both fun and energetic year round, while also being a sustainable tourism city.

About 40 officials from related organizations, including the city’s collaboration department, autonomous districts, the Asia Culture Center, the Mudeungsan National Park Department, the Gwangju Tourism Organization, and the Kimdaejung Convention Center.

Gwangju City government organized this meeting with the aim of developing tourism packages that tourists want under the theme “Exciting Tourist City Gwangju: Where People Want to Visit Again and Stay.” Through sharing creative ideas and utilizing the abundant tourism resources within the Gwangju area, the meeting proved to be a success.

Furthermore, in order to pre-emptively respond to the diversification of the tourism market, Gwangju City plans to promote tourism policies by focusing on (a) creating Gwangju’s own unique tourism content and foundation, (b) fostering the “MICE Tourism Industry” and tourist convenience policies, (c) making unique local infrastructure as tourism attractions, and (d) various storytelling features regarding tourism resources.

Meanwhile, Gwangju City and Dong-gu District will hold the first Buskers World Cup in Gwangju this October as an event that can be enjoyed by people worldwide in order to help globalize the local, well-known 2022 Chungjang World Festival of Recollection. The events are expected to provide an opportunity for the city to leap forward as a global festival hub that can attract worldwide attention.

Gwangju City decided to raise, as of September 1, the support fee that provides food free of charge to the elderly who are feared to be skipping meals.

The increase aims to provide good-quality and nutritious food to the elderly, reflecting the increase in food cost unit prices caused by steep inflation occurring in the first half of this year.

Gwangju City provides free meals 300 days a year to an average of 4,100 people per day at 29 restaurants serving the elderly, including senior welfare centers, and has provided meal boxes for the elderly with mobility difficulties, in order to protect senior citizen who are vulnerable to meal skipping.

Participating restaurants resumed serving regular meals in accordance with the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s plan to reopen leisure facilities for the elderly back in April; however, due to the recent increased spread of COVID-19, the restaurants have ceased operation. The eligible elderly are now being offered alternative meal delivery in order to prevent meal skipping and to check their safety.

Translated by Lim Se-ryeong.