Yongsan-gu, Recruiting 30 Foreign Honorary Community Leaders

From July 1 to 17, Foreign Residents Selected by Region Including English-speaking, Chinese-speaking, and Middle Eastern Areas for Social Participation and Communication with Local Residents

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] As of the end of last year, the number of registered foreigners in Yongsan-gu was 20,841. With the number of foreign residents increasing day by day, a district that encourages foreign residents to take the lead in creating policies together with the district government is drawing attention.

Yongsan-gu (Mayor Seongjang Hyun) will publicly recruit 30 honorary foreign resident community leaders from July 1 to 17.

This is to enable foreign residents living in the district to confidently participate in society and to promote communication and harmony with local residents.

Until now, policies related to foreign residents have mostly been one-sided support. The honorary community leader system is the first attempt to create customized policies together through two-way communication with foreign residents.

A district official said, “There have been issues such as some foreign residents’ deviant behavior due to negative perceptions of foreigners and language communication barriers. The honorary community leaders will act as a bridge between the district and foreign residents, leading communication and cooperation.”

The honorary community leaders will be selected by region, with 2 to 5 people each from English-speaking countries, Chinese-speaking regions, Japan, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, totaling 30 people.

Those who wish to participate can visit their local community service center. Foreigners who have lived in the respective neighborhood for more than one year and can communicate in Korean are eligible to apply.

Recommendations can also be received from foreigner support facilities (Multicultural Support Center), related departments, and local community service centers in the area of residence.

Once appointed as honorary community leaders, they will participate in the honorary foreign resident community leaders’ meetings once a month. They will be provided with district policy projects and foreigner support information and will convey cooperation matters from foreign residents.

They will also collect various opinions such as difficulties experienced while living as foreign residents and work together with the district to improve them.

Seongjang Hyun, Mayor of Yongsan-gu, said, “Yongsan is one of the cities in South Korea with the highest number of foreign residents. Together with the honorary community leaders, we will listen to the voices of foreign residents and reflect them in policies to make it a better place to live in harmony with local people.”

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