Jeonnam Province Establishes Comprehensive Plan for Lunar New Year Holiday... Safe Holiday Preparations 'Completed'

Increased Express Bus and Train Services

Price Stability and Protection of Low-Income Households

24-Hour Emergency Medical Care Operation

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] Jeonnam Province has completed thorough preparations to ensure that residents and visitors returning to their hometowns during the Lunar New Year holiday can have a comfortable and warm festive season.

During the holiday, a comprehensive situation room will be operated to prepare for various incidents, accidents, and emergencies. The province has established comprehensive countermeasures in cooperation with cities and counties, divided into 10 sectors including traffic safety and disaster prevention, to be actively implemented.

▲ Increased Operation of Express Buses and Trains during Lunar New Year Holiday

From the 23rd to the 27th, designated as the special traffic control period, joint efforts by the province, cities, counties, and related organizations will operate a ‘Special Traffic Control Situation Room’ to provide transportation convenience for residents, visitors returning home, and tourists.

Since traffic congestion is expected to be heaviest on the 24th (departure day) and the 26th (return day), measures such as increasing the number of vehicles and guiding detours around congested areas will be implemented to alleviate inconvenience for travelers.

To facilitate transportation for travelers, express buses on routes such as Seoul~Gwangju, Mokpo, and Suncheon will increase from an average of 350 trips per day to 531 trips, an increase of 141 trips. Trains will increase from an average of 83 trips to 87 trips per day on a one-way basis.

Intercity direct buses will increase from an average of 1,413 trips to 1,560 trips per day, an increase of 147 trips. Cities and counties will also operate temporary or extended services for city buses and rural buses to accommodate visitors to ancestral graves.

The national road section from Yeosu Hwayang to Jeokgeum will be temporarily opened from the 23rd to the 28th. The national and local roads sections Ilro~Mongtan~Donggang, Naju IC~Dongshin University, and Sijong~Naju, which were opened last year, are expected to provide a more comfortable route for hometown visits.

The situation room operating during the special traffic control period will handle traffic inconvenience reports received during the holiday in cooperation with the province, cities, counties, and related organizations, and will promptly respond to emergencies such as traffic accidents and vehicle breakdowns on the roads.

To ease transportation inconvenience for visitors returning home, the railway will increase the Honam Line and Jeolla Line by 2 trips each per day, operating a total of 87 trips. Intercity direct buses will increase by 147 trips on 52 routes, and express buses will increase by 141 trips on 56 routes.

In preparation for increased demand for passenger ferry transportation, special transport measures will be implemented, increasing operations by about 400 trips across the three regions of Mokpo, Yeosu, and Wando.

▲ Price Stabilization and Protection of Low-Income Households

Ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, 16 key items have been designated for focused management to stabilize prices and protect low-income households. These include four agricultural products (cabbage, radish, pear, etc.), four livestock products (pork, chicken, beef, etc.), six seafood products (yellow croaker, cutlassfish, mackerel, pollock, etc.), and two forest products (chestnuts, jujubes).

Since the 8th, the province, cities, counties, and the Jeonnam branch of the National Agricultural Products Quality Management Service have been jointly inspecting sales outlets and restaurants selling agricultural, marine, livestock, and forest products for compliance with origin labeling and proper labeling methods. Penalties such as fines will be imposed based on the inspection results.

▲ 24-Hour Emergency Medical Institutions and Facilities

To minimize inconvenience in emergency patient treatment and the use of medical institutions and pharmacies during the holiday, and to detect and prevent the spread of infectious diseases early, an emergency medical response situation room will be operated from the 24th to the 27th in cooperation with the province and all city and county health centers.

During the holiday, 51 emergency medical institutions and facilities will operate emergency rooms 24 hours a day to provide emergency treatment. Additionally, 601 hospitals and clinics, 414 health institutions, and 902 pharmacies will have designated duty days to promptly respond to patient care.

For rapid transport of emergency patients from vulnerable areas such as islands, the operation system for doctor helicopters will be strengthened. To support on-site emergency medical care in case of multiple casualties, Mokpo Korean Hospital and St. Carollo Hospital, regional emergency medical centers, will maintain vehicle dispatch readiness and an emergency communication system.

Information on hospitals and clinics available for treatment during the holiday can be obtained through the Ministry of Health and Welfare call center 129, 119, the Emergency Medical Information Center (http://e-gen.or.kr), and smartphone apps providing emergency medical information. It can also be checked on the websites of the province and cities/counties.

In addition, preventive duty for foot-and-mouth disease and avian influenza, as well as safety inspections of 138 multi-use facilities such as comprehensive passenger facilities, performance and viewing venues, and sales facilities, are being conducted to prevent various incidents and accidents and manage disaster safety. The 119 situation room operates 24 hours a day for rapid response, with 16 fire stations and the aviation unit on standby for immediate dispatch.

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