"Creating a City with Excellent Welfare"... Pohang City Realizes Life Cycle-Based Tangible and Empathetic Welfare

Increased Support for Newborn First Meeting Vouchers and Incentives, Expansion of 4 Public and National Childcare Centers

Lee Gang-deok, Mayor of Pohang.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yeo Jong-gu] To realize a welfare city that all citizens can feel and empathize with, Pohang City in Gyeongbuk is strengthening customized welfare services tailored to each life cycle.

On the 9th, the city is focusing on creating an environment favorable for childbirth and child-rearing, spaces where youth can nurture their dreams and hopes, and improving leisure spaces for the elderly to create a more convenient and healthy living environment.

The main welfare projects include △ realizing customized safe childcare △ expanding public education infrastructure △ supporting youth growth and establishing creative convergence education infrastructure △ maintaining and strengthening the foundation for women's career growth △ expanding the welfare network for the elderly △ and promoting the construction of Pohang City Memorial Park.

First, to realize customized safe childcare, this year the city will provide all newborns with a ‘First Meeting Voucher’ worth 2 million KRW and increase the childbirth incentive payments.

The childbirth incentives will be raised as follows: first child (300,000 KRW → 1,000,000 KRW), second child (1,100,000 KRW → 2,900,000 KRW), third child (2,200,000 KRW → 4,100,000 KRW), and fourth child or more (11,200,000 KRW → 11,300,000 KRW). Additionally, a ‘Gyeongsangbuk-do Childbirth Celebration Coupon’ worth 100,000 KRW will be provided concurrently.

Also, by operating a ‘Financial Accounting Consulting Group’ for daycare centers and implementing a mandatory evaluation system, the city plans to improve the overall quality of childcare in all daycare centers.

To build public education infrastructure, the city is promoting the expansion of a total of four national and public daycare centers: one workplace daycare center within the Buk-gu Office building, one selected in new apartment complexes with over 500 households, and two converted from long-term leased private and home daycare centers to national and public daycare centers.

Support for the healthy growth of youth will also be increased.

The ‘Youth Culture House’ is scheduled to open in June, and the city will support nurturing future talents and students’ dreams through △ ‘Youth Smart Marine Education’ utilizing regional characteristics △ financial support for relocating and rebuilding Gyeongbuk Science High School for creative science talent development △ support for constructing a multipurpose auditorium to enhance student health rights.

Efforts will be made to maintain women’s careers and strengthen the foundation for growth.

△ Expanding Pohang-style women’s jobs through customized female vocational education and training tailored to COVID-19 △ revitalizing the local economy by expanding women’s time-choice jobs that balance work and family △ providing workplace mom SOS services (such as school commuting and hospital visits for children under 12) △ preparing to leap forward as a women-friendly leading city by creating a happy city for women and a gender-equal social culture.

Additionally, the city is striving to create a happy city for all families by providing universal and integrated services to various family types, including forming social networks for single-person households, emotional stability and career/employment support for school-age children in multicultural families, and strengthening support for single-parent families.

Great care is also being taken to expand the welfare network for the elderly.

To alleviate discomfort caused by the seated culture in senior centers, the city will invest 100 million KRW of municipal funds to install ‘standing table sets’ in 80 registered senior centers and plans to increase support annually.

Furthermore, nine additional senior centers will be built to expand leisure spaces for the elderly.

To overcome the sense of alienation and inconvenience elderly people may feel in a digital environment, the city plans to support experiencing various unmanned devices by providing ‘kiosk usage education’ at senior centers and installing ‘kiosk experience centers’ at two locations: Baetmori Lifelong Education Center and the Senior Welfare Center.

For elderly living alone, ‘ICT-based smart devices’ will be installed in their homes, and through continuous monitoring, the ‘Emergency Safety and Security Service (600 households, 300 million KRW) real-time non-face-to-face care expansion’ will promptly notify guardians in case of dangerous situations, thereby strengthening care for vulnerable elderly.

Lastly, efforts are underway to build a memorial park for a ‘beautiful farewell,’ providing a high-quality and eco-friendly funeral culture, convenient one-stop funeral services, and serving as a healing park.

Mayor Lee Kang-deok of Pohang said, “We will strive to realize Pohang as a special welfare city of hope where all generations, including children and youth who will lead Pohang’s future and the elderly who have driven Pohang’s development, can be happy together.”

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