[This Person] Yudeokyeol, Dongdaemun-gu Mayor, Receives Praise for Establishing Continuous Monitoring System for Households at Risk of Solitary Death

Dongdaemun-gu Signs Business Agreement with KEPCO and SKT on the 21st for 'Single-Person Household Welfare Check Service'... Sends Alerts to Dong Welfare Planners When Abnormal Patterns Detected Using Power Usage Data and Call Records... Operates 'IoT Safety Management Solution' and 'Smart Plug' Projects to Detect At-Risk Households by Monitoring Illumination and Power Consumption

Safe Care Service Operating System

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Yoo Deok-yeol, Mayor of Dongdaemun-gu (photo), has received praise for establishing a continuous monitoring system for welfare blind spots and households at risk of solitary death.

On the 21st, Mayor Yoo signed a business agreement for the promotion of a social safety net service based on electricity and communication data, the ‘Single-Person Household Check-in Service,’ with Korea Electric Power Corporation (President Kim Jong-gap) and SK Telecom (CEO Park Jung-ho).

The signing ceremony was replaced by a written agreement due to the escalation to Level 4 social distancing measures for COVID-19.

The ‘Single-Person Household Check-in Service’ is an AI and social safety net service that uses the electricity usage data and call records of the target individual without installing any separate devices. When an abnormal pattern different from the usual lifestyle is detected, it sends an alert to the local welfare planner.

Through this, the local welfare planner can identify emergency situations early and respond promptly to prevent solitary deaths.

The district plans to conduct a five-month pilot project from August to December targeting about 100 vulnerable single-person households who have consented to the collection and analysis of communication and electricity data, including middle-aged single-person households at risk of isolation due to social structural changes such as low birthrate, aging, family breakdown caused by divorce or unemployment, and other households requiring continuous monitoring.

Improvements will be reflected through monitoring during this period, and the service will be commercialized from 2022 with an expanded target group.

Additionally, to regularly check the safety of 750 individuals who find it difficult to use the Single-Person Household Check-in Service, the ‘Seoul Salpimi App’ will also be operated starting in August.

The Seoul Salpimi App is a service where the local welfare planner visits the target’s home to install the app on their smartphone, identifies guardian information through counseling, sets designated times (minimum 6 hours to maximum 72 hours) and do-not-disturb times, and sends alert messages to guardians, local welfare planners, or acquaintances if there is no smartphone usage during the designated time to respond to emergencies.

Prior to this, the district has been operating the ‘IoT Safety Management Solution’ and ‘Smart Plug’ services since 2018 and 2020 respectively, which detect risk households by checking illuminance and electricity consumption through equipment installed in homes for continuous monitoring of households at risk of solitary death.

The ‘IoT Safety Management Solution’ service, targeting single-person elderly and middle-aged households at risk of solitary death, is currently used by 472 households, while the ‘Smart Plug’ service for single middle-aged households is used by 32 households.

Yoo Deok-yeol, Mayor of Dongdaemun-gu, said, “To thoroughly prevent solitary death among single-person households and respond quickly to sudden situations, face-to-face methods have limitations. Since 2018, we have introduced devices to continuously monitor risk households and are doing our best to prevent solitary deaths.”

He added, “I am pleased that through this agreement with KEPCO and SKT, we can provide services more conveniently to residents without installing separate devices. We will continue to provide improved welfare services to ensure that no unfortunate incidents occur among neighbors in crisis.”

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