Shin Won-chul, Chair of Seoul Metropolitan Council, "Government and Local Governments Must Make Every Effort to Minimize COVID-19 Community Transmission"

The first 2020 extraordinary session scheduled for 15 days from February 21 to March 6... Cooperation with the executive branch to actively respond to COVID-19, city administration questions canceled and replaced with urgent issue questions

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] The Seoul Metropolitan Council (Chairman Shin Won-chul) held the 291st extraordinary session from the 21st to March 6th, a 15-day schedule.

Notably, this extraordinary session replaced the planned annual city administration questions with urgent questions related to COVID-19, as the council and the executive branch actively responded to the pandemic.

Chairman Shin Won-chul (Democratic Party) mentioned in his opening remarks that the COVID-19 situation has entered a new phase of community infection, urging the government and local governments to implement a new quarantine response system and make every effort to block the spread. The Seoul Metropolitan Council also promised to provide necessary support and cooperation with a more proactive and preemptive attitude than ever before to resolve the situation.

He also extended words of consolation to self-employed business owners suffering from severe operational and financial difficulties due to confirmed cases, quarantined individuals, and reduced consumer sentiment, and expressed sincere respect and gratitude to medical personnel and related officials who are tirelessly working day and night on the front lines for patient treatment and quarantine.

Furthermore, he noted that economic difficulties due to consumption stagnation may continue even after successful quarantine and promised that the Seoul Metropolitan Council would provide legal and financial support if additional assistance is needed to revive the local economy.

Regarding the 2020 budget, he announced that this year’s Seoul city budget has been significantly expanded by more than 10% compared to last year, totaling approximately 39.5 trillion won, and since the focus this year is on stabilizing people’s livelihoods and economic recovery, the expanded budget will also concentrate on these areas.

First, to alleviate difficulties faced by small business owners and the self-employed, he stated that the newly introduced Seoul Love Gift Certificate and the existing Zero Pay system will be actively expanded this year.

He also expressed gratitude for Seoul city’s emergency injection of 5 billion won in contingency funds to support small business owners affected by COVID-19 by providing 500 billion won in long-term low-interest loans for small and medium enterprise development funds, and stated that the Seoul Metropolitan Council will also provide legal and financial backing depending on future changes in the situation.

Second, he mentioned the voices of young people saying, “We will be a generation poorer than our parents,” and introduced specific youth policies included in this year’s Seoul city budget, such as youth allowances, youth financial support, and direct youth job projects.

Some of these youth budgets were reflected through youth autonomous budgets planned and designed by the youth themselves, which he welcomed as a change where citizens are not only beneficiaries of policies but also designers, planners, and owners of policies.

The Seoul Metropolitan Council is also keeping pace with this movement by forming a “Special Committee on Youth Policy” led by teenage youth council members, conducting various policy research activities.

Chairman Shin also referred to the “Local Transfer Act” passed by the National Assembly on January 9, expressing hope that Seoul city will be fully prepared for the affairs transferred to it and that this will contribute to the development of local autonomy in the Republic of Korea.

Finally, he quoted director Bong Joon-ho’s acceptance speech at the recent Academy Awards, emphasizing that efforts quietly accumulated day by day with sincerity will surely return to us in an unexpectedly remarkable way, and that the Seoul Metropolitan Council will spend this period with such a mindset.

After the opening ceremony on the 21st, in the urgent questions session, Oh Hyun-jung, vice-chair of the Health and Welfare Committee (Democratic Party, Gwangjin 2), questioned the quarantine measures against COVID-19, and Kang Dong-gil, member of the Administrative Autonomy Committee (Democratic Party, Seongbuk 3), inquired about the socio-economic ripple effects of COVID-19.

From the 24th to March 5th, each standing committee will receive New Year work reports from their respective offices, headquarters, and bureaus, review various agenda items, and on the last day, March 6th, a plenary session will be held to process the agenda items thoroughly discussed and submitted by the standing committees.

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◆Opening Remarks

Respected and beloved ten million citizens,

Mayor Park Won-soon, Superintendent of Education Cho Hee-yeon, and related officials,

and senior and fellow council members,

Thank you for attending the 291st extraordinary session of the 10th Seoul Metropolitan Council.

As this is the first extraordinary session of the new year 2020,

I hoped it would be a hopeful occasion to plan for the new year,

but unfortunately, today we gather here with very heavy hearts.

The situation related to COVID-19 is severe.

COVID-19, which seemed to be entering a lull,

has entered a new phase of community infection.

In times of crisis, unified hearts of all are important.

The government and local governments

must implement a quarantine response system suitable for the new situation

and make every effort to block the spread.

Citizens, please tighten your vigilance again

and thoroughly manage personal hygiene

to help minimize community infection.

The Seoul Metropolitan Council will also take a more proactive and preemptive stance than ever before

and spare no support and cooperation necessary to resolve the situation.

We will also seek stabilization measures

to revive the local economy in serious crisis.

And I would like to take this opportunity to greet you.

First, I deeply console the confirmed COVID-19 patients, quarantined individuals, and their families

who are enduring daily pain.

I also extend words of consolation to self-employed business owners

who are suffering severe operational and financial difficulties due to business closures along confirmed patients’ movement routes and reduced consumer sentiment.

I sincerely respect and thank medical personnel and related officials

who are tirelessly working day and night on the front lines for patient treatment and quarantine.

Also, I extend consolation to residents of the Daegu and Gyeongbuk regions

who are especially anxious due to this incident.

It is not easy to gather in one place at such times, but

I thank Mayor Park Won-soon, Superintendent of Education Cho Hee-yeon, senior and fellow council members,

and staff of Seoul city, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, and the council

who have attended the meeting to fulfill their roles and responsibilities.

This COVID-19 outbreak has, on the one hand, served as a wake-up call for us.

Despite the endless development of human civilization and technology,

there are always situations that are difficult to predict in advance.

Health crises such as infectious diseases will inevitably occur again,

and the development of civilization will accelerate the spread of risks more than now.

Ultimately, the way to minimize damage

is rational and proactive measures at the early stage of occurrence.

On this occasion, our society must thoroughly check

how well it is prepared to respond to such crisis situations.

In particular, we must revisit the reality of Korea’s public healthcare.

The difficulty in quickly finding specialized quarantine facilities

to accommodate the Wuhan evacuees transferred to Korea

reflects our unfortunate reality of an extremely low proportion of public medical facilities.

It is regrettable that even after five years since the 2015 MERS outbreak,

we have not yet sufficiently supplemented this.

As domestic and international experts have pointed out,

new infectious diseases may reappear in the near future.

To respond efficiently at that time,

expanding public medical infrastructure is urgent.

Of course, Seoul has a higher proportion than other regions,

but compared to other advanced metropolitan cities, it is still low.

Not preparing for the inevitable future

is no different from escaping from reality.

I sincerely hope the government will review the status of public medical facilities nationwide

and raise the proportion of public medical facilities to the level of advanced countries.

Seoul, more than anyone else, should make such efforts first

and become a model for the whole country.

Respected ten million citizens,

It is still difficult to estimate how much more time is needed

until the situation is completely resolved.

Even after complete success in quarantine,

economic difficulties may persist for a long time.

To protect citizens’ safety and lives, and furthermore the local economy,

everyone’s effort, dedication, understanding, and consideration are urgently required.

Depending on the situation, additional financial support

for confirmed patients, quarantined individuals, and affected businesses may need to be considered.

Legislation and budget support are the responsibilities of our council.

We promise to actively cooperate.

This year’s Seoul city budget

has been significantly expanded by more than 10% compared to last year,

totaling approximately 39.5 trillion won.

Since the focus this year is on stabilizing people’s livelihoods and economic recovery,

the expanded Seoul city budget will concentrate on these areas.

(1) Support for small business owners and the self-employed

When the economy becomes difficult, those who feel the hardship first

are small business owners and the self-employed.

Seoul city plans to make various efforts

to alleviate your difficulties.

Through the stable operation of the newly introduced Seoul Love Gift Certificate

and the active expansion of the existing Zero Pay system,

we hope it will help small merchants and people’s livelihoods alike.

Regarding damages caused by COVID-19,

Seoul city urgently injected 5 billion won in contingency funds

and implemented measures to support affected small business owners

with 500 billion won in long-term low-interest loans for small and medium enterprise development funds.

We appreciate Seoul’s proactive stance ahead of the central government’s similar measures,

and if additional measures are needed depending on future changes,

the council will provide legal and financial backing.

(2) Youth policies

According to statistics, last year’s youth unemployment rate was 8.9%.

Although it improved compared to the previous year,

there is still a large gap compared to the overall average unemployment rate.

Also, the expanded unemployment rate, an indicator reflecting the actual perception level of the youth, recorded 22.9%.

In the face of this harsh reality,

the self-deprecating voices of young people saying, “We will be a generation poorer than our parents,”

pierce the heart.

Fortunately, this year’s Seoul city budget includes

various and concrete youth policies.

Looking at the details, it can be called a groundbreaking support.

The number of youth allowance recipients will expand to 30,000,

the “Double Hope Youth Account” will continue to be supported,

and “In-depth Mental Health Counseling” will newly support 3,000 people.

To allow young people to enjoy housing freedom,

monthly rent of 200,000 won will be supported for 5,000 people,

and interest on rental deposit loans will be supported for 1,000 people.

There is a saying that the best welfare is jobs.

Accordingly, a large budget has been allocated to expand youth jobs.

176.4 billion won will be invested to increase 13,000 direct youth jobs.

Various youth start-up support measures such as R&D support, Campus Town, and Youth Hub operation are also prepared.

These youth budgets are even more meaningful because

they did not come only from the council and executive branch’s deliberations.

Youth autonomous budgets planned and designed by young people themselves

were reflected in 32 projects totaling 27.8 billion won.

The Seoul Metropolitan Council welcomes the change where citizens are not only beneficiaries of policies

but also designers, planners, and owners of policies.

To keep pace with this movement, the Seoul Metropolitan Council has also formed a “Special Committee on Youth Policy”

led by youth council members and is conducting various policy research activities.

On January 9, the so-called “Local Transfer Act” was passed by the National Assembly.

Accordingly, from January 1, 2021,

400 affairs specified in 46 laws under 16 central government ministries

will be transferred to local governments.

Local governments will now be responsible for affairs closely related to residents’ lives.

This can be seen as returning some of the powers unnecessarily held by the central government to control local governments

to where they originally belong.

The long-delayed efforts toward local autonomy have moved forward, even if just a little.

Of course, there are still many challenges to be solved for true local autonomy,

but we need to make efforts to fully own even these small changes granted to local governments.

Much preparation will be needed in advance

to ensure that newly transferred tasks and existing local government tasks

can all be carried out smoothly.

In particular, if the required budget and personnel are not accurately estimated,

the already excessive financial and work burdens on local governments

may increase further.

We hope Seoul city will be fully prepared in this regard

and set an example for other regions.

We expect this to greatly enhance local governments’ autonomy capabilities

and contribute to the development of local autonomy in the Republic of Korea.

At the recent Academy Awards,

Korean film “Parasite” won four awards including Best Director and Best Picture.

Even those who have not seen the film fully felt the meaning and emotion of the awards.

It is a precious and honorable thing for Korean films to receive such major awards in the global mainstream film market.

Director Bong Joon-ho said in his acceptance speech,

“The director himself and the production company just did what they normally do.”

I think that is the right answer.

Efforts quietly accumulated day by day with sincerity

never betray us.

And they will surely return to us in an unexpectedly remarkable way.

The Seoul Metropolitan Council will spend this period with such a mindset.

We will quietly do our best in the roles given to us

and help overcome the current crisis.

Even after everything has passed, we will not forget today’s lessons

and continue efforts for urban safety and citizens’ health

to be unwavering in the face of the next crisis.

Above all, we will make every effort possible

to revitalize the depressed local economy and stabilize people’s livelihoods.

The central government, Seoul city, and the Seoul Metropolitan Council

will overcome difficulties with one heart.

The Seoul Metropolitan Council will be closest to the citizens.

Thank you.

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