Dobong-gu Operates 'Nugu Vaccine Care Call' to Monitor Adverse Reactions Using AI

[Seoul District News] Dobong-gu Efficiently Manages Vaccine Adverse Reactions with AI-Based Simultaneous Monitoring... Dongjak-gu Holds Environmental Policy Forum for Carbon Neutrality... Gwanak-gu Builds Network for 'Our Neighborhood Women, Safety Gathering' for Single Women Households... Yeongdeungpo-gu Establishes Hi-Pass Payment System in Public Parking Lots

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Dobong-gu (Mayor Lee Dong-jin) is operating an artificial intelligence (AI) telephone guidance service called 'NUGU vaccine carecall' to monitor adverse reactions occurring after COVID-19 vaccination.

'NUGU vaccine carecall' is provided free of charge by SK Telecom as part of its social contribution (ESG) efforts. Dobong-gu and SK Telecom signed a business agreement last September to provide this service.

'NUGU vaccine carecall' is a service where SK Telecom's AI 'NUGU', built on the mobile network, calls vaccine recipients to monitor adverse reactions such as pain, fever, muscle pain, and headache, and provides guidance on how to respond to each situation. It also informs about adverse reactions requiring prompt response according to the vaccine characteristics, including thrombocytopenic thrombosis, myocarditis, and pericarditis.

With the introduction of this service, the district expects to reduce the time required for basic monitoring and ease workload by enabling multiple simultaneous calls, as well as efficiently select priority cases for rapid management.

However, considering the limitations of AI calls in responding to all situations, currently only mild adverse reaction personal reports (via website/SMS) are partially introduced and utilized. For cases requiring additional consultation after AI calls or adverse reaction reports received from medical institutions, health center staff will directly confirm and guide by phone as before.

Dobong-gu plans to maintain close cooperation with SK Telecom to ensure stable operation of 'NUGU vaccine carecall' and continuously update additional information related to adverse reactions after vaccination.

Mayor Lee Dong-jin of Dobong-gu said, "As the vaccination rate has recently increased, there was a heavy workload in basic monitoring. By introducing AI technology, we can efficiently manage the previously burdensome phone consultation tasks during adverse reaction management, and at the same time focus on other necessary tasks such as rapid response to severe adverse reactions and support for adverse reaction compensation. We will continue to prepare various measures so that residents can get vaccinated with peace of mind." Inquiries can be made to the Dobong-gu Public Health Department's Visiting Health Team.

Dongjak-gu (Mayor Lee Chang-woo) has started this month to establish a long-term future vision for a 'Better Dongjak' and hold policy forums divided into five areas: ▲environment policy ▲smart city ▲economic revitalization ▲comprehensive urban planning ▲welfare policy development to prepare concrete implementation plans.

First, on the 7th, the district office auditorium hosted an environment policy forum with the mayor and executives of Dongjak-gu.

The environment policy forum was organized to accelerate policy preparation for becoming a sustainable environmental city where people and nature coexist, aiming to establish a carbon-neutral city foundation in response to the climate crisis.

The mayor and executives participated to gather will for long-term environmental policy promotion and to operate the district government organically through interdepartmental collaboration to achieve goals. All staff watched via real-time video.

Environmental policy was subdivided into seven sectors (▲buildings ▲transport ▲roads ▲ecology ▲resource circulation ▲environmental awareness enhancement ▲damage prevention), and plans were divided into public/private sectors for multifaceted policy review. Ongoing projects were reviewed to supplement problems and discuss future directions.

Key topics included reviewing long-term plans for green remodeling projects to improve the energy performance of existing buildings to zero-energy building levels, and focusing discussions on expanding charging infrastructure to alleviate inconvenience in using charging stations amid the increasing supply of electric and hydrogen vehicles.

To expand green spaces that reduce greenhouse gases, plans for roadside green belts and tree selection were specified, with active discussions referencing other regional cases on securing green spaces. Also, practical ways to promote and expand eco-mileage and passenger car mileage programs, enabling residents to save energy in daily life and realize carbon neutrality, will be continuously sought.

Additionally, plans include expanding zero-energy new buildings, reducing vehicle emissions, replacing road lighting with LEDs, reducing waste, and measures to prevent noise and dust scattering, all reviewed and implemented effectively to reduce energy consumption, carbon emissions, greenhouse gases, and fine dust.

Mayor Lee Chang-woo of Dongjak-gu said, "Environmental issues are survival issues affecting present and future. We must first implement what can be done at the district level and consider effective and sustainable policies extending to the private sector. We will continue to hold forums on major future district policies and do our best for Dongjak's development."

Gwanak-gu (Mayor Park Jun-hee) is holding a meeting called ‘Our Neighborhood Women, Safety Gathering’ to share information for protecting the safety of female residents and to build a community safety network, providing an opportunity to alleviate the anxiety of single female households.

‘Our Neighborhood Women, Safety Gathering’ is a small group where local women become the main agents of village safety, forming a support system among women living in similar environments and sharing information and interest about safety.

The word ‘Mokkogi’ is a pure Korean term meaning a gathering or party of several people. Since 2019, the district has operated ‘Our Neighborhood Women, Safety Roundtable’ and this year renamed it to ‘Safety Mokkogi’ emphasizing voluntary small groups.

On the 8th, under social distancing guidelines, a ‘Safety Mokkogi’ meeting was held at a family restaurant near Seoul National University Station with single female household residents and a domestic violence counseling center director attending to share mutual interest and opinions for community safety.

Especially at this third meeting, Kim Sol-mon, director of Ire Sexual Violence Counseling Center, participated directly to give vivid lectures on cases of sexual violence and harassment against women and shared practical safety response measures.

Kim ○○ from Seorim-dong, who attended the meeting, expressed gratitude, saying, “Through the Safety Mokkogi meeting, I had a precious opportunity to overcome the anxiety and fear of crime felt in daily life and to rely on and build solidarity with each other.”

‘Safety Mokkogi’ is an extension of the single female household safe village project, operating various programs such as building networks among small groups led by residents, visiting female safety facilities, self-defense education, and sharing regional solidarity awareness.

The district plans to continuously prepare support measures so that many single female households living in the area can form support systems through mutual exchange and create a safer community.

Currently, Gwanak-gu is promoting various projects to create a safe city where not only single female households but all women can live comfortably and safely, including single female store safe bells, female safe return scouts, female safe parcel boxes, female safe keeper houses, and illegal filming camera inspection equipment rental services.

Especially this year, to prevent and respond quickly to female crimes, the district completed the ‘Single Household Women Safety Smart City Planning Consulting Support Project’ using new technologies such as AI and big data, and is accelerating the creation of a female safety smart city with pilot installations of solar markers on women’s safe return paths and new high-intensity lighting installations.

Songpa-gu (Mayor Park Sung-soo) announced on the 12th that it is promoting the complex redevelopment of the aging Garakbon-dong Community Service Center located in a commercial area to secure modern public facilities and create a new growth hub for job creation in the 4th industrial revolution.

The existing Garakbon-dong Community Service Center is a 31-year-old public building with one basement and two above-ground floors, totaling 999㎡, which was insufficient to meet increasing administrative demands. Also, with changes in the surrounding area such as the establishment of the Songpa ICT Security Cluster as a cutting-edge ICT industry hub, the need for expanding innovative public facilities has been raised.

Accordingly, the district is actively promoting the construction of the Garakbon-dong complex building on the site of the Garakbon-dong Community Service Center (39, Songpadaero 28-gil), located in a commercial area near Garak Market, integrating education, culture, administration, and job creation functions.

The Garakbon-dong complex building will be 13 floors above ground with a total floor area of 13,000㎡, housing the community service center, public facilities, office spaces, and neighborhood living facilities.

Specifically, along with the community service center, public specialized facilities such as a smart city integrated operation center serving as the core control tower of the future city, the Songpa Saem Future Education Center for education on AI, IoT, metaverse, and an advanced library will be expanded to meet local residents’ needs.

Additionally, office facilities supporting startups linked to the 4th industrial revolution including ICT will be developed.

The project, aiming for completion in 2026, will be implemented through a ‘delegated development of public property’ model. The entrusted institution will finance the initial project costs, and the district will repay the development costs over a long period, enabling the local government to meet administrative demands without initial financial burden and accelerate the expansion of necessary public facilities to improve resident convenience.

The district plans to designate a public development entrusted institution within this year, reflect residents’ opinions through briefings, and concretize the project. Next year, feasibility studies, local finance investment reviews, public property deliberations, and architectural design will proceed, with construction starting in 2024.

Mayor Park Sung-soo of Songpa-gu said, “Considering the excellent location of the Garakbon-dong building and the development potential linked to nearby large-scale projects such as the Songpa ICT Security Cluster, Seongdong Detention Center site development, and Garak Market modernization, the synergy effect of the complex building construction will be significant. This development will enhance administrative services for local residents and create a new growth hub in the 4th industrial sector through job creation by supporting startups and nurturing venture companies.”

Dongdaemun-gu (Mayor Yoo Deok-yeol) conducted an integrity campaign on the afternoon of the 12th at Cheongnyangni Station Plaza together with the Eastern Education Support Office to enhance the image of integrity and promote integrity practice.

About 30 employees from Dongdaemun-gu Office and the Eastern Education Support Office gathered at Cheongnyangni Station Plaza to promote the Anti-Graft Act, protection of whistleblowers, and the Conflict of Interest Prevention Act to customers and residents using the station, distributing promotional leaflets and masks with integrity slogans.

Additionally, the district is conducting various integrity events for employees to spread a culture of integrity. Notably, following the ‘Integrity Quiz’ event in July, the winners of the ‘Integrity Acrostic Poem’ contest held on Integrity Day in September were recently announced, attracting attention.

The ‘Integrity Acrostic Poem’ contest was an event where employees wrote and shared acrostic poems on the theme of ‘employees’ commitment and will for integrity.’ Dozens of Dongdaemun-gu employees submitted various ideas, and three excellent works were selected on the 8th.

Among seven acrostic poems that passed the first screening by the Integrity Love Club members, the top three selected through employee preference surveys were: “Integrity goes up, worries go down” (Lee Eun-joo, Administrative Officer, Imun 2-dong), “Integrity in public service! A fair society without resentment!” (Song Min-jung, Team Leader, Civil Affairs Passport Division), and “Let’s act with dignity so we are not ashamed when looking back on our youth” (Jo Sung-min, Administrative Officer, Jeonnong 1-dong).

The selected excellent acrostic poems will be published in the November integrity newsletter and actively used as slogans for Dongdaemun-gu’s integrity pens and promotional activities to spread the culture of integrity.

To establish integrity, the district is implementing various policies including the integrity campaign, forming and operating the ‘Corruption ZERO Integrity UP’ task force, conducting customer satisfaction surveys on integrity happy calls, activities of the Integrity Love Club, communication meetings called ‘Bom Bom Bom’ (seeing each other, communicating, and integrity), open-hearted storytelling sessions, and integrity book reading campaigns.

Mayor Yoo Deok-yeol of Dongdaemun-gu said, “For integrity practice, employees must first approach residents and the local community. We will continue to create various opportunities for employees to participate in integrity practice and foster a culture of integrity.”

At public off-street parking lots in Yeongdeungpo-gu, it has become possible to conveniently pay parking fees without a wallet or getting out of the car.

Yeongdeungpo-gu (Mayor Chae Hyun-il) announced that it has established and officially started operating the automatic payment service ‘Hi-Pass’ payment system at 24 public off-street parking lots operated by the district.

Previously, in public parking lots, drivers had to stop their cars in front of the payment machine at exit and take out their cards from their wallets to make payments themselves, and if eligible for discounts, had to get confirmation from staff, which was inconvenient.

Accordingly, the district linked Seoul City’s ‘Baro Green Payment’ service with the district’s integrated control system and introduced a Hi-Pass style payment system. When a vehicle approaches the parking lot exit, the license plate is recognized and the parking fee is automatically paid using pre-registered information. It works like a highway toll, where the vehicle passes through and payment is processed automatically.

This service can be used immediately without a separate device by pre-registering vehicle number and payment method on the Seoul City Baro Green Payment website.

For vehicles eligible for discounts such as compact cars, low-emission vehicles, disabled persons, and national merit holders, automatic discounts are applied upon pre-registration.

The district expects that this service will enable safe and convenient use of parking lots without contact between machines or people, responding to the demand for non-face-to-face administrative services in the post-COVID-19 era and improving resident convenience.

Mayor Chae Hyun-il of Yeongdeungpo-gu said, “We introduced the Hi-Pass payment system so that residents can use public parking lots more quickly and conveniently. We will continue to strive to discover various policies closely related to residents’ daily lives and make Yeongdeungpo a better city to live in.”

Seodaemun-gu (Mayor Moon Seok-jin), together with the Environmental Foundation (Chairman Choi Yeol), held a contest on the theme ‘Know-how to solve our household waste problems’ and recently held an awards ceremony, announced on the 12th.

The contest to discover environmental protection ideas was held nationwide from August 26 to September 12.

The categories were ‘videos around 60 seconds’ and ‘card news around 10 pages,’ with no restrictions on genres such as animation, drama, motion graphics, music videos, webtoons, and vlogs.

A total of five judges including external experts evaluated the entries based on relevance to the theme, originality, communicability, and novelty, selecting 14 winners out of 68 submissions.

On the 7th of this month, the district held an awards ceremony at Rachel Carson Hall of the Environmental Foundation in Jung-gu, Seoul, with five grand prize and excellence award winners attending in person, and the rest of the encouragement award winners participating online.

A child who won the grand prize said, “I am happy to be able to share our household waste solution with others and hope to participate again next year.”

The district organized this contest as part of the ‘Seodaemun-style Green New Deal’ to promote coexistence of people and the earth, focusing on ‘ways to efficiently reduce and utilize waste at home.’

Mayor Moon Seok-jin of Seodaemun-gu said, “We will actively support this contest to collect and share ideas for practicing eco-friendly low-carbon living so that it can be held annually.”

The winning works will be broadcast on Seodaemun-gu’s YouTube channel from the 18th of this month.

Yangcheon-gu (Mayor Kim Soo-young) announced that it will produce and operate from October an online non-face-to-face career platform called ‘Yangcheon Career Meta Planet’ using VR and metaverse to enable MZ generation youth to experience various future careers and jobs.

‘Yangcheon Career Meta Planet’ will be operated divided into a ‘virtual showroom’ and a ‘communication space.’ Yangcheon-gu’s representative character ‘Haeuri’ will participate as a docent avatar to communicate with youth, explain the virtual showroom content, and perform quiz missions to enhance interest and fun.

‘Yangcheon Career Meta Planet’ allows youth to access the non-face-to-face platform and participate in career experience activities incorporating future technologies without spatial or temporal constraints. Moving away from passive online classes, youth will actively communicate using avatars as ‘secondary characters’ in the virtual world, strengthening future-oriented career competencies and gaining direct experience with new technologies.

Mayor Kim Soo-young of Yangcheon-gu said, “We introduced the metaverse, a key element of the 4th industrial revolution era, into career experience activities for MZ generation youth familiar with digital communication methods. It will be a valuable experience for our youth to develop capabilities to become leaders of future society.”

Gangnam-gu (Mayor Jung Soon-gyun) operates various nutrition management programs for residents’ health.

Every month, the district conducts tailored education and provides health supplements to pregnant women and infants through the ‘Nutrition Plus Project.’ Especially on the 14th, ‘Nutrition Day,’ two programs, ‘Dietary Guidelines for Koreans’ and ‘Health Exercises to Awaken My Body,’ will be held at the Gangnam Healing Center in Gaepo-dong.

Gangnam-gu Public Health Center will run a program called ‘Setting My Own Low-Sugar Table’ for single-person households in the district every Thursday for two weeks starting this week. The program educates on low-carb, high-fat diets and appropriate carbohydrate intake, and participants can make egg gimbap and steak salad themselves.

Yang Oh-seung, director of Gangnam-gu Public Health Center, said, “Many people suffer from nutritional imbalance due to delivery food and convenience meals. We hope Gangnam-gu’s nutrition management programs will be a starting point for healthy daily recovery.”

The district is conducting a ‘Walking Challenge in Daily Life’ until the 15th to promote residents’ health on ‘Obesity Prevention Day.’ If the total steps of participants exceed 500 million, Dongkook Pharmaceutical will donate health products worth 100 million KRW to the Gangnam-gu Disabled Family Support Center.

Jung-gu (Mayor Seo Yang-ho) has assigned addresses to multi-use facilities such as bus stops and children’s parks and installed object address plates to provide convenience in residents’ address use.

Object addresses are information specifying the location of facilities that are not buildings, using road names and base numbers. These include bus and taxi stops, outdoor elevators, and outdoor evacuation facilities.

Although these are places frequently visited by residents, multi-use facilities that are not buildings have not been assigned addresses, causing ongoing problems in rapid response when accidents occur near roads or various facilities.

Accordingly, Jung-gu has assigned object addresses to such facilities throughout the district since early this year and completed installation of object address plates at 287 locations by the end of September.

Using object address plates installed along roads allows accurate location identification around facilities and roads, enabling quick rescue in case of traffic accidents or emergencies, thus facilitating rapid response to safety accidents.

Furthermore, these will be reflected in internet portal sites and navigation systems in the future, increasing utilization and adding convenience for various location-based services in the mobile era.

Mayor Seo Yang-ho of Jung-gu said, “Assigning object addresses will improve not only emergency response through accurate location identification but also everyday convenience. We plan to actively discover and assign object addresses to facilities and places without addresses to eliminate location blind spots.”

Closing Ceremony Drone Show

The 26th Gangdong Prehistoric Culture Festival, decorated with online and light exhibitions, concluded by delivering messages of comfort and hope with various video contents for residents tired of COVID-19.

Planned under the theme ‘THE SUNSHINE,’ this Gangdong Prehistoric Culture Festival was operated mainly through online content videos due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.

Famous YouTubers’ Gangdong experience videos produced to revitalize the depressed local economy naturally introduced Gangdong-gu’s food and attractions and promoted the local currency ‘Bitsal Money,’ expected to invigorate the local commercial district.

On the last day of the festival, the ‘Sunshine Concert’ was held online live, featuring a skit-style story by YouTuber ‘Hansarang Mountain Club’ and special performances by singers ‘Lee Mujin,’ ‘Kim Jung-min,’ and ‘Hong Ji-yoon.’ COVID-19 frontline medical staff and quarantine workers were invited to express gratitude and provide a healing time for residents’ safety.

The festival finale was decorated with the ‘Sunshine Drone Show’ conveying bright tomorrow and hopeful messages. Videos of the 26th Gangdong Prehistoric Culture Festival can be viewed on Gangdong-gu Office’s YouTube channel.

The light exhibition ‘A RAY OF SUNSHINE,’ delivering hope and warmth through light, can be viewed until October 31 at Seoul Amsa-dong historic sites including Cheonho Intersection, Seonsa Intersection, and Amsa History Park outdoor stage.

The ‘Sunshine Garden’ exhibition set up at the Amsa History Park outdoor stage can be reserved in advance on the 26th Gangdong Prehistoric Culture Festival website, with detailed information available on the website.

Gwangjin-gu (Mayor Kim Sun-gap) will conduct ‘Gwangjin-gu Cooperation School’ education from the 12th to the 21st to strengthen residents’ cooperation capabilities.

This education was prepared to activate public-private cooperation where residents discover and solve local problems together and to nurture active local community cooperation activists.

Cooperation School will be conducted as non-face-to-face video education using ZOOM for new cooperation committee members, members of functional and self-governing organizations, public forum participants, and residents interested in cooperation. For a small number of residents unfamiliar with online use, face-to-face education will be provided.

The curriculum starts with the concept and necessity of cooperation, cooperation trends, and policy understanding on the first day, and concludes with 10 lectures by October 21, including agenda discovery, project plan writing methods and practice, sharing successful cooperation cases, and establishing common vision and goals for Gwangjin-gu.

Additionally, employee education to raise awareness of the concept and importance of public-private cooperation will be conducted. District employees will receive education from October 15 on understanding cooperation projects and sharing excellent cooperation cases.

Mayor Kim Sun-gap of Gwangjin-gu said, “I hope this Cooperation School will be an opportunity for residents to think about and solve local problems themselves and to take interest and participate in district policies. We will continue efforts to activate public-private cooperation centered on residents to enhance local values.”

Eunpyeong-gu (Mayor Kim Mi-kyung) announced that it will open and share public open resources in the area through ‘Gongyu Nuri’ (Shared World).

‘Gongyu Nuri’ is an integrated portal for public open resource sharing services promoted by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety as a government innovation and national agenda. It allows citizens to easily search and reserve public open resources such as facilities and goods opened by central government ministries, local governments, and public institutions online.

The district registers public resources such as facilities, spaces, meeting rooms, lecture rooms, auditoriums, and goods managed and operated by 16 community service centers and others on Gongyu Nuri, providing related information and online reservation guidance. However, due to COVID-19, space rental may be restricted, so confirmation before reservation is necessary, explained a district official.

For detailed usage information, refer to the ‘Gongyu Nuri’ website.

Mayor Kim Mi-kyung of Eunpyeong-gu said, “Through Gongyu Nuri, desired resources can be easily searched and reserved, maximizing the utilization of public resources. We will continue to discover and expand new shareable public resources in the area to improve resident convenience.”

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