"Gyeonggi-do Goes All Out to Prevent Recurrence of Kimpo Family Deaths... Rolling Up Sleeves to Identify Vulnerable Groups"

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Gyeonggi Province is actively working to identify vulnerable groups in welfare blind spots as winter approaches.

Gyeonggi Province announced on the 8th that it will carry out projects in four areas?discovery, management, support, and policy development for vulnerable groups?until the 29th of next month to prevent tragedies like the recent extreme case of a family death in Gimpo due to financial hardship.

First, to identify households in crisis, the province will conduct a comprehensive investigation of apartment residents regarding arrears in management fees, rent, and other payments.

Unlike general houses, apartments include electricity bills and other charges in the management fees, which are paid collectively, making it difficult to track individual household arrears. Therefore, monitoring of apartment residents will be strengthened.

In connection with the resident registration fact-finding survey, support targets will be identified, and on-site investigations will be enhanced through local human safety nets such as social welfare officials in 31 cities and counties, honorary social welfare officials (about 34,000 people), and members of the Community Security Council (about 9,400 people) in towns, townships, and neighborhoods.

Additionally, a task force consisting of 17 members from five departments, led by the Director of the Welfare Bureau, will be formed to strengthen management in the 31 cities and counties.

The support criteria for the Gyeonggi Province-type emergency welfare project have also been relaxed.

This project supports vulnerable groups who have difficulty maintaining their livelihood by providing assistance in living expenses, medical care, housing, and education. The income, property, and financial asset criteria for eligibility have been eased to expand the number of beneficiary households compared to before.

According to the relaxed support criteria, the income standard has changed from below 80% of the median income to below 90% of the median income; the property standard from 150 million KRW to 242 million KRW; and the financial asset standard from 5 million KRW to 10 million KRW, allowing more households to receive support.

Support for households in crisis using private resources such as the 'Infinite Care Fund,' raised through the Fruit of Love fundraising and the Gyeonggi Province public officials’ salary rounding donation campaign, will also be expanded.

To this end, the province plans to form a 'Crisis Resident Discovery Support Policy Task Force (TF)' involving welfare-related departments, the Planning and Coordination Office, the Autonomous Administration Bureau, and the Gyeonggi Welfare Foundation.

A provincial official stated, "We will concentrate all our efforts to prevent tragedies like the recent Gimpo family death, where three family members died after leaving a message expressing despair," and urged, "If you discover neighbors in crisis, please contact the Gyeonggi Province Call Center or the town, township, or neighborhood community service center."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.