Gangdong-gu Urgently Provides 1 Million Won in Closure Support Funds to Academies and Private Institutes

100 Million KRW Closure Support Fund Provided to 2,303 Sites Including 1,193 Hagwon and Gyoseupso

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Gangdong-gu (Mayor Lee Jeong-hoon) will provide a closure support fund of 1 million KRW each to a total of 2,303 multi-use facilities, including 1,193 academies and private institutes suffering business damage due to COVID-19, as well as sports facilities, karaoke rooms, and PC cafes.

This measure aims to assist self-employed individuals and small business owners who are experiencing financial and mental damage due to repeated gathering bans and restrictions caused by the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.

The district had supported 926 businesses with a closure support fund worth 1 billion KRW in the first half of this year, but decided on a second round of support as the resurgence of COVID-19 has worsened the management difficulties for self-employed individuals and others.

This time, the closure support fund will be provided to a total of 2,303 facilities, with 1 million KRW per facility, amounting to approximately 2.3 billion KRW. The district plans to accept applications until mid-December and complete payments within the year.

Among these, 1,193 academies and private institutes registered with the Gangdong-Songpa Office of Education as of December 7 of this year, located in Gangdong-gu, are eligible.

On December 8, social distancing was raised to level 2.5, and academies and private institutes in the metropolitan area were exceptionally ordered to close under a ban equivalent to level 3. This was to protect the safety of students during the vacation period, but the academy sector is also expressing difficulties due to the ongoing situation.

Accordingly, the district decided to provide closure support funds of 1 million KRW each, totaling about 1.2 billion KRW, to 1,193 academies and private institutes in the area. However, if support has already been received for other industries or if the representative operates two or more facilities, duplicate support will not be provided. Also, if it is found that the facility operated even one day during the gathering ban period, the support fund will be reclaimed.

In addition, the district will provide closure support funds of 1 million KRW each to 249 karaoke rooms, 93 PC cafes, 218 entertainment facilities, and 550 sports facilities.

Since eligibility, application periods, and required documents differ by facility, applicants should check detailed information on the Gangdong-gu Office website before applying.

For other inquiries, academies and private institutes should contact the Education Support Division, entertainment facilities the Health and Hygiene Division, karaoke rooms and PC cafes the Culture and Arts Division, and sports facilities the Sports for All Division.

Lee Jeong-hoon, Mayor of Gangdong-gu, said, “I hope this closure support fund will be of some help to local self-employed individuals and small business owners who are struggling due to the prolonged COVID-19 situation.”

He added, “As the number of confirmed cases in the metropolitan area is rapidly increasing recently, Gangdong-gu is strengthening epidemiological investigation personnel and conducting more thorough quarantine activities to block community infections. We will continue to mobilize all available resources of the district office to protect the lives and safety of residents with utmost effort.”

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