Improving Living Conditions for Foreigners and North Korean Defectors... Ministry of the Interior and Safety Invests 2 Billion KRW in National Funds

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Basic living infrastructure will be expanded to alleviate inconveniences faced by foreigners and North Korean defectors due to lack of various information during their settlement process in Korea, and to enable early settlement through communication and exchange with residents.

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced on the 3rd that it will hold a nationwide contest for local governments until April 10th to improve residential conditions and living convenience in areas with concentrated populations of foreigners and North Korean defectors through the "Basic Living Infrastructure Development Project."

From 2018 to 2020, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety supported 22 local governments with a special grant of 3.3 billion KRW* over three years to improve basic living infrastructure in areas with concentrated populations of foreigners and North Korean defectors. This year, securing a budget of 2 billion KRW, which is more than last year, the ministry plans to support up to 200 million KRW per local government as a subsidy project instead of a special grant.

The number of foreign residents living in Korea reached 2,216,612 as of November 1, 2019, accounting for 4.3% of the total population. There are 95 cities, counties, and districts where more than 10,000 foreign residents or more than 5% of the population reside. The number of North Korean defectors living in Korea reached approximately 34,000 as of December 31, 2019.

Areas with concentrated populations of foreigners and North Korean defectors, located around large cities or in the hinterlands of local industrial complexes, lack convenient living facilities and conditions for interaction with local residents, which sometimes leads to misunderstandings and conflicts due to cultural differences and social prejudice.

Accordingly, this year's project will focus on △ improving facilities of comprehensive support centers so that foreigners and North Korean defectors can easily access necessary information for settlement △ expanding cultural and convenience facilities to improve residential environments △ expanding community spaces to activate communication and exchange with local residents.

Furthermore, projects that demonstrate active participation of foreigners, North Korean defectors, and local residents from the planning stage through the implementation process will be given priority support.

The project sites will be selected in April after receiving applications from local governments by March 10, followed by on-site inspections and review by the project selection committee.

Park Sung-ho, Director of the Local Autonomy Division at the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, explained, "Warm interest and consideration are important so that foreigners and North Korean defectors can live together in the community. We will actively support improving the residential environment to prevent inconveniences in daily life and help residents understand each other and settle early by interacting together."

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety has supported 22 local governments with a special grant of 3.3 billion KRW* over three years from 2018 to 2020 to improve basic living infrastructure in areas with concentrated populations of foreigners and North Korean defectors.

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