Jeong Wono, Seongdong District Mayor, Proposes Priority PCR Testing for Essential Workers

[Seoul District News] Jung Won-oh, Seongdong-gu Mayor, Proposed Free Self-Test Kits and Priority PCR Testing at the 1st Ministry of Employment and Labor Essential Work Designation and Worker Support Committee on the 15th... Gwanak-gu Strives for External Funding by Focusing on 2022 Public Projects and External Evaluations... Yoo Dong-gyun, Mapo-gu Mayor, Attended the ‘2022 New Worker Safety and Health Training’... Geumcheon-gu Promotes ‘Finding Precious Buried Assets’ Project... Seongbuk-gu Produced ‘Lease Contract Tips’ Guide

Jung Won-oh, Mayor of Seongdong-gu, attending the 1st Essential Work Designation and Worker Support Committee meeting of 2022 (second from the right)

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Jung Won-oh, Mayor of Seongdong-gu, attended the ‘1st Essential Work Designation and Worker Support Committee’ hosted by the Ministry of Employment and Labor on the 15th, actively urging that self-test kits be provided free of charge to essential workers and that they be prioritized for PCR testing.

With the recent surge in COVID-19 infections increasing the risk of contagion, Mayor Jung emphasized the need to provide self-diagnostic kits to essential workers and ensure that those who must perform face-to-face labor can undergo PCR testing at any time. Through the first discussion of the ‘1st Essential Work Designation and Worker Support Committee,’ he once again took active steps to improve the rights and interests of essential workers.

Since Seongdong-gu became the first in the nation in 2020 to enact an ordinance protecting and supporting essential workers who risk infection to maintain normal social functions during the COVID-19 crisis, meaningful social changes have occurred.

To date, the ordinance has spread to over 90 local governments, and the National Assembly enacted the ‘Essential Work Designation and Worker Protection and Support Act’ (commonly known as the Essential Worker Protection Act), which has been in effect since November last year.

Additionally, under the enforcement decree of the Essential Worker Protection Act, the ‘Essential Work Designation and Worker Support Committee’ (hereafter the Support Committee) was formed, chaired by the Minister of Employment and Labor, comprising six central administrative agencies, two local governments, four labor-management organizations, and two private experts.

At the meeting to deliberate and decide on the essential worker status survey and support plans, Mayor Jung Won-oh, attending as a representative of basic local government heads and a committee member, joined the encouraging societal changes in awareness of essential workers. As the head of the ‘Essential Worker Protection and Support Local Government Promotion Group,’ which includes 36 local governments, he plans to spare no effort in the practical protection and support of these workers.

Mayor Jung Won-oh of Seongdong-gu said, “I will continue to do my utmost so that essential workers who maintain our society without change even in disaster situations can work in conditions and environments worthy of their efforts as soon as possible.”

Gwanak-gu (Mayor Park Jun-hee) held the ‘2022 Public Project and External Evaluation Promotion Report Meeting’ on the 15th in the district office’s planning situation room, launching an all-out effort to attract strategic external funding.

The report meeting, presided over by the mayor and attended by heads of departments and divisions, analyzed and shared the achievements of public projects and external evaluations in 2021 and sought proactive preparation and strategies for actively attracting external funds in 2022.

To overcome difficult financial conditions, the district reorganized its structure in August 2018, establishing the ‘External Policy Team’ to oversee public projects and external evaluations, focusing administrative power on securing external funds. Despite the COVID-19 crisis last year, 22 departments participated in external public projects, securing selection for 109 projects and 51.4 billion KRW in project funds.

Notably, the district excelled in public project areas related to job creation, revitalization of local markets and small business support, education and culture for public service support, and customized rental housing projects, all aimed at revitalizing the local economy and improving residents’ lives.

It also discovered and applied for various public projects across all areas of district administration, including smart city development, eco-friendly projects, and social vulnerability protection and support projects.

In external agency evaluations, the district won a total of 58 awards from central government, Seoul city, and other major institutions, securing prize money of 130 million KRW.

This year, the district plans to actively discover and apply for public projects linked to the basic direction of government budgets and respond proactively to social contribution public projects in the private sector as well as public institutions. It aims to upgrade management systems through supplementation and reinforcement of project management and response systems and create synergy effects by linking existing work with external public projects.

Additionally, it plans to strategically respond by strengthening staff capabilities through producing public project guidebooks, sharing project work, and holding performance evaluation report meetings.

At the report meeting, Gwanak-gu Mayor Park Jun-hee said, “To respond quickly to changes in the administrative environment caused by the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic in line with major government policy directions, discovering new projects and actively applying for them is important,” urging all department heads and staff to cooperate organically in carrying out their work.

A district official said, “In 2022, we will focus on securing external funds through staff capacity building and various public project applications and strive to raise the district’s status further through awards in overseas agency evaluations and other external evaluations.”

Mapo-gu (Mayor Yoo Dong-gyun) conducted the ‘2022 New Worker Safety and Health Education’ for newly hired workers on the 17th at the Mapo-gu Office 2nd floor auditorium.

The education, held twice on the 17th and 18th, covers topics such as industrial safety, accident prevention, and occupational disease prevention.

In the first session, 134 public workers received training, and in the second session, 53 workers from the community quarantine project participated.

Mayor Yoo Dong-gyun, who attended the training, said, “I expect this education to be practically helpful in preventing hazards and disaster situations in the workplace.”

Geumcheon-gu (Mayor Yoo Sung-hoon) announced that it will promote the ‘Dream Project to Find Precious Property Buried in the Land,’ which identifies land owned by deceased persons and provides land ownership status to heirs.

The existing ‘Ancestor Land Search’ property inquiry service requires applicants to visit the district office in person with a family register and ID, which is inconvenient.

Therefore, Geumcheon-gu decided to provide a proactive service that uses big data such as the comprehensive real estate registry system and resident computer network to discover ancestral land ownership status and notify heirs.

First, the district will identify deceased residents, then verify registration details and heirs, check nationwide land ownership status and various registries, and guide heirs on inheritance property and registration procedures.

Geumcheon-gu expects this project to greatly help protect heirs’ property rights and private property rights by providing inheritance information that might otherwise be overlooked, as well as help prevent COVID-19 spread through non-face-to-face civil service processing.

Meanwhile, last year, Geumcheon-gu provided land ownership status for 1,849 parcels to 621 residents through the ‘Ancestor Land Search’ property inquiry service, receiving great response.

Mayor Yoo Sung-hoon said, “This project protects residents’ property rights and alleviates economic and time inconveniences of visiting the district office in person. We will continue to strive to provide creative administrative services that enhance residents’ convenience throughout district administration.”

For more details, inquiries can be made to the Real Estate Information Division of Geumcheon-gu Office.

Seongbuk-gu (Mayor Lee Seung-ro) produced a guide (Rental Contract Tips) outlining precautions when signing real estate lease contracts and types of deposit damage cases to prevent damage caused by incorrect real estate lease contracts. The guide was posted on the district website and the ‘Seongbuk-gu Real Estate Brokerage Notification Room’ Kakao channel operated by Seongbuk-gu Office.

Key precautions when signing real estate lease contracts include verifying the qualifications and business registration of licensed real estate agents, confirming the actual registered owner of the property, checking official registers (building register, land register) and the brokerage object confirmation statement, subscribing to deposit return insurance whenever possible, and obtaining a fixed date certificate.

When brokerage accidents occur in real estate lease contracts, tenants find it difficult to protect their rights compared to landlords. Especially, Seongbuk-gu, which hosts the largest number of eight universities among Seoul’s autonomous districts, has a high risk of brokerage accidents for first-time contract signers such as university students and young single-person households.

Therefore, actively using the ‘Rental Contract Tips’ when signing real estate lease contracts is expected to help prevent brokerage accidents and protect tenants’ property rights.

A Seongbuk-gu official said, “We hope the ‘Rental Contract Tips’ will enhance the safety of lease contracts and protect residents’ property. We also hope students and young workers who face difficulties with their first real estate contracts will actively use the guide to avoid damage when signing lease contracts.”

The materials can be accessed by searching for ‘Seongbuk-gu Real Estate Brokerage Notification Room’ on the KakaoTalk channel and adding the channel.

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