Ministry of the Interior and Safety Holds 'Gwanghwamun 1st Street Open Communication Forum'... Discussing 'Daily Recovery Measures'

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] A platform was created for the public and government to share ways to restore daily life changed after COVID-19.

On the 31st, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety held the first Gwanghwamun 1st Street Open Communication Forum of the year under the theme "Wise Daily Life Recovery Plan Made Together." The 'Gwanghwamun 1st Street Open Communication Forum,' held since 2018, is Korea's representative 'policy public forum' that reflects public proposals into policies of various ministries.

This open communication forum was held online on the YouTube channel 'Gwanghwamun 1st Street Open Communication Forum' considering the COVID-19 spread situation. In the first part of the forum, Minister Jeon Hae-cheol gave the opening remarks, and Professor Kwon Seon-pil of Mokwon University and activist Lee Joon-soo of Ford Korea participated as presenters.

In his opening remarks, Minister Jeon Hae-cheol said, "We are making every effort to support rapid vaccination, which is key to daily life recovery," and asked, "Through the open communication forum, please gather ideas and wisdom for daily life recovery that the government may not have considered." Professor Kwon Seon-pil presented on social changes brought by COVID-19 and integrated responses, while activist Lee Joon-soo spoke about the public mask app and the development of personal safety numbers.

After the presentations, there was a time to share opinions and communicate with the public on necessary support policies and sectors for daily life recovery through the YouTube live chat window. When asked about his impression of receiving the first dose of the vaccine on the 26th, Minister Jeon said, "It was no different from getting a regular flu shot," and pointed to COVID-19 vaccination as the priority measure for daily life recovery.

The second part involved small-group public discussions with 60 pre-registered participants to discover policy proposals, gathering more in-depth opinions. Even after the forum ended, post-discussions will continue online through comments until April 6. The collected public opinions will be developed into policy proposals through an expert maturation forum (April 7), reviewed by relevant ministries (end of April), and then promoted for policy reflection (May).

Minister Jeon Hae-cheol stated, "Last year, about 82% of the proposals discovered through the open communication forum were actually implemented as policies," and added, "We will carefully collect and organize the valuable opinions of the public and work with related ministries to increase the rate at which they are reflected in actual policies."

Meanwhile, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety plans to encourage continuous public interest and participation in the open communication forum by conducting events from March to December, including adding friends on the KakaoTalk 'Open Communication Forum' channel, attendance check certification shots, and monthly forum theme-related discussion certification shot events.

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