Gwangyang-si Establishes Basic Plan for Foreign-Friendly City

An Inclusive and Open City, Gwangyang: An Attractive City Everyone Wants to Visit

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Hyung-kwon] Gwangyang City announced on the 17th that it has established the "Basic Plan for Creating a Foreign-Friendly City" as part of realizing the vision of "Gwangyang, an International City with Citizens."

Due to its characteristics as a port city, Gwangyang has many foreign seafarers and has signed international sister and friendship city agreements with 17 cities in 9 countries worldwide. As a result, the number of foreigners visiting and staying in the fields of international exchange, tourism, and employment is continuously increasing.

Accordingly, the city established the basic plan through benchmarking advanced cities, holding meetings with related organizations and groups, and consulting with members of the Gwangyang Internationalization Promotion Council to create a global city where foreigners and locals live together.

The basic plan includes a total of 21 projects in 5 areas: △foreign language infrastructure △living support △social integration △volunteer participation △improvement of civic awareness, encompassing a five-stage process of communication, adaptation, integration, pride, and affinity.

First, the foreign language infrastructure construction project has been promoted since 2012, including appointing honorary foreign language interpreters and operating a pool of volunteer interpreters. With the establishment of this basic plan, additional projects such as fostering a citizen foreign language learning atmosphere, foreign language food menus, and improving foreign language signs and guides will be carried out.

To help foreigners adapt to life in Korea, various programs will be operated, including a one-on-one mentoring system for resident foreigners, operation of foreigner counseling desks, education on society, human rights, and law, Korean language education, and Korean cultural experiences.

Additionally, to support the rapid social integration of foreigners, the city will promote the operation of a foreigner community center, activation of foreigner cultural and sports clubs, and creation of foreigner-themed streets. Furthermore, to enable foreigners to become independent members of society, opportunities for volunteer activities such as participation as instructors in free foreign language classes and promotion of city administration in foreign languages through native language SNS will be actively provided.

Finally, Gwangyang City plans to operate various programs such as global mindset enhancement education so that Gwangyang citizens can engage in close cultural communication with foreigners.

Meanwhile, the Basic Plan for Creating a Foreign-Friendly City in Gwangyang will be gradually implemented from next year, considering the various factors of each project. Currently, 1,682 foreigners are registered in Gwangyang (as of March 31, 2020, according to Ministry of Justice statistics).

Jung Hyun-ok, head of the International Cooperation Team, said, "The purpose of creating a foreign-friendly city is to build an inclusive and open city, an attractive city that anyone wants to visit, and ultimately to realize the vision of Gwangyang as an international city," adding, "We hope that Gwangyang citizens with advanced civic awareness will participate and make efforts together."

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