Ministry of the Interior and Safety Selects 16 Excellent Village Enterprises and 9 Modu-Ae Village Enterprises

Support for Village Enterprises to Revitalize Population Declining Areas and More

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced on the 9th that it has selected 16 ‘Excellent Village Enterprises’ and 9 ‘Moduae (愛) Village Enterprises’ that utilize local resources to create jobs and contribute to solving regional problems.

Each of the 16 Excellent Village Enterprises will receive up to 70 million KRW to support product development, infrastructure expansion, and promotion and marketing expenses. Moduae (愛) Village Enterprises are selected from village enterprises that have had an average annual sales of over 300 million KRW in the past three years and have been established for more than two years. Nine companies with high sales and brand value that have contributed to job creation and regional revitalization were selected.

‘Dongrak Jeompang Social Cooperative (Yeonggwang-gun, Jeollanam-do)’, selected as an Excellent Village Enterprise, has 370 local residents participating as members and was established to provide convenience to residents who face difficulties purchasing daily necessities due to the absence of convenience stores and marts, which are essential living infrastructure. ‘Saebyeok Surasang (Dalseo-gu, Daegu)’ is the nation’s first village enterprise established through crowd funding by residents and staff of an apartment complex (Seongseo Boseong Hwaseong Town). It manufactures side dishes within the apartment complex and provides early morning delivery services to apartment residents.

The 9 Moduae (愛) Village Enterprises include ‘Namuwa Yeolmae Social Cooperative (Seongbuk-gu, Seoul)’ and ‘Hamkkehaneun Geunal Cooperative (Jeju-si, Jeju)’. ‘Namuwa Yeolmae Social Cooperative (Seongbuk-gu, Seoul)’ provides short-term care and both visiting and receiving care services that were not offered by the existing care system for the disabled, and also supports emergency, temporary, and regular care for non-disabled individuals.

‘Hamkkehaneun Geunal Cooperative (Jeju-si, Jeju)’ was established by career-interrupted women and others to address regional issues related to youth and environmental problems following news reports about pad insoles in 2016. Starting with the production of cotton sanitary pads, it has expanded its business areas and operates ‘Jigubyul Gage’, which covers overall activities related to zero waste such as distribution, transportation, travel, and upcycling.

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety will promote the growth and leap of Excellent Village Enterprises and Moduae (愛) Village Enterprises in local communities by sharing cases through social fairs, supporting entry into online and offline sales outlets to promote product sales, producing promotional videos, and creating collections of best practices. Support is being provided for entry into major online shopping malls such as 11st, Auction, and Gmarket, and on-site sales events such as Homeplus Win-Win Market and Win-Win Shop, which were suspended due to COVID-19, are also being planned.

Choi Hoon, Director of the Local Autonomy and Decentralization Office, said, “Village enterprises play a significant role in solving regional problems such as revitalizing depopulated areas and creating youth jobs,” and added, “We plan to discover various successful models and actively support the further activation of village enterprises.”

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