Daejeon City Excludes 'Nexon' from Public Children's Rehabilitation Hospital Name

A bird's-eye view of the 'Public Children's Rehabilitation Hospital' building under construction in Gwanjeo-dong, Seo-gu, Daejeon. Provided by Daejeon City

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] The city of Daejeon plans to exclude the name of the sponsoring company ‘Nexon’ from the name of the public children’s rehabilitation hospital and to exclude Nexon’s involvement in the hospital’s operations.

The city announced on the 11th that it has conveyed this position to the Nexon Foundation and that both parties are currently discussing the related matters.

Previously, in October 2019, the city signed a detailed implementation agreement with the Nexon Foundation for the establishment of the public children’s rehabilitation hospital.

The agreement at that time specified that the hospital’s name would be ‘Daejeon·Chungnam Nexon Children’s Rehabilitation Hospital,’ including the sponsor’s name in the hospital name, and that the city and the Nexon Foundation must mutually consult when appointing the hospital director or when the project cost changes by more than 2 billion KRW.

However, the city explained that, considering the negative public opinion from the Daejeon City Council, civic groups opposing the inclusion of a corporate name in the hospital name, and the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s opinion, it was decided not to use the name ‘Nexon’ in the public children’s rehabilitation hospital’s name.

Additionally, the city judged that the agreement clauses requiring consultation with the Nexon Foundation on personnel matters such as the appointment of the hospital director and on project cost changes exceeding 2 billion KRW were unreasonable. Therefore, the city plans to delete the personnel-related clauses and revise and supplement the mutual consultation on project cost changes so that it can be conducted without compromising public interest.

However, as a donor, the city left open the possibility of positively considering the Nexon Foundation’s participation in the operating committee to ensure the hospital’s normal operation and financial contribution after its opening.

The city is currently working with the Nexon Foundation to revise the agreement accordingly. If mutual agreement cannot be reached, the city is also considering returning the donations previously received. This means returning the 10 billion KRW sponsorship that was to be received from the Nexon Foundation under the agreement.

Lee Dong-han, Director of the City’s Health and Welfare Bureau, said, “We signed the agreement with Nexon in good faith at a time when securing project funds for the public children’s rehabilitation hospital was difficult, but we regret not having fully informed civic groups and the council about the detailed contents of the agreement.” He added, “The city will work to smoothly finalize the revision of the agreement with the Nexon Foundation and thoroughly ensure that the public children’s rehabilitation hospital can open normally by the end of this year.”

Meanwhile, the public children’s rehabilitation hospital is the first children’s rehabilitation hospital to be built nationwide and will be constructed at 567-10, Gwanjeo-dong, Seo-gu, Daejeon, with two basement floors and five above-ground floors, accommodating 70 beds.

The city expects that once the hospital opens, about 6,000 disabled children in the Chungcheong region will be able to use the hospital facilities.

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