Mayor Lee Yong-seop Discusses COVID-19 Response Situation with Five District Heads

On the 6th, Lee Yong-seop, Mayor of Gwangju Metropolitan City, attended the 'COVID-19 Response Metropolitan District Video Conference' and presided over a meeting with the heads of the five district offices of Gwangju to explain agenda items related to COVID-19 response and discuss the progress of initiatives by each district. Photo by Gwangju Metropolitan City

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] On the 6th, Lee Yong-seop, Mayor of Gwangju Metropolitan City, held a video conference with the heads of five district offices to discuss the preparation status of emergency livelihood expense applications by autonomous districts and the COVID-19 response situation, including self-quarantine of overseas entrants.

The meeting was held on the first day of in-person applications for the third emergency livelihood expense measure announced by Gwangju City to protect the local economy from COVID-19. It was arranged to conduct a prior inspection and seek cooperation to ensure that citizens do not experience inconvenience when visiting the dong administrative welfare centers. Due to the government's extended enforcement of strengthened social distancing, the meeting was conducted via video conference.

First, Gwangju City started with an agenda on the status and management system of self-quarantined overseas entrants, explained the preparation status for emergency livelihood expense applications, and the promotion of livelihood support for special employment workers, unemployed, and unpaid leave workers, requesting each autonomous district to prepare thoroughly.

Also, with the head of the city’s autonomous administration department as the person in charge, a dedicated management team of 289 members for self-quarantined individuals has been operated in collaboration with the safety departments of each autonomous district. In response to the recent increase in overseas entrants, they shared the preparedness status, including designating 568 reserve staff to prepare for an increase in self-quarantined individuals.

Next, the policy for the second supplementary budget was explained, stating, “Considering the difficult financial conditions of the autonomous districts, the government’s emergency disaster relief funds are not being allocated to the districts.”

In particular, they requested efforts to support citizens affected by COVID-19 by focusing investments on livelihood stabilization and job creation projects through bold expenditure restructuring, such as reducing ordinary expenses, organizing canceled or downsized projects due to COVID-19, and adjusting underperforming projects.

The progress reports by autonomous districts proceeded in the order of management status of self-quarantined overseas entrants, manpower deployment for in-person application and rapid support of emergency livelihood expenses and livelihood support for special employment workers, unemployed, and unpaid leave workers, livelihood stabilization measures by district, and requests for suggestions to the city.

Currently, autonomous districts have deployed a total of 1,096 dedicated personnel for emergency livelihood expense support, including in-person application reception, income verification, and selection of payment recipients at 95 dong administrative welfare centers, and have also established dedicated reception counters.

In-person applications can also be made on the first floor of City Hall, where 10 dedicated counters have been set up in the lobby and will operate until the 8th of next month.

Applications for livelihood support for special employment workers, unemployed, and unpaid leave workers will be accepted from the 13th until the 22nd of next month. Due to the extended enforcement of strengthened social distancing, in-person applications at the administrative welfare centers of the applicant’s address will be possible from the 20th.

In particular, since many difficulties are expected in the field due to livelihood support and support for National Assembly election affairs, Seo-gu requested additional manpower support.

Mayor Lee Yong-seop said, “It has been two months since the first confirmed COVID-19 case occurred in our city, and the frontline staff and our public officials have been working hard without weekends,” and urged, “Let us unite tightly with the spirit of sharing and solidarity to overcome this difficult time.”

He added, “As promised to the citizens, I ask the district heads to pay special attention so that the application for livelihood support and rapid payment within two weeks can proceed smoothly.”

He also said, “Since this is an emergency situation where citizens are suffering, we will carry out a rigorous budget restructuring to use about 10% of the ordinary expenses from the already allocated budget, event operation costs canceled or reduced due to COVID-19, overseas travel expenses, and unnecessary budgets for job creation and other purposes for citizens, so I ask for your cooperation.”

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