Seongdong-gu Receives Minister of the Interior and Safety Award for National Policy Design on Sewing Experience Certification

[Seoul District News] Seongdong-gu Receives Minister of the Interior Award and Secures 100 Million KRW Special Subsidy for Formalizing Unregistered Sewing Businesses and Workers... Gwanak-gu Wins Minister of the Interior Award for 'Alley Economy Recovery Support Project'... Mapo-gu Focuses on Managing 'Winter Season, Regular Customer Nuisance Fine Dust'

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Seongdong-gu (Mayor Jung Won-oh) won the Minister of the Interior and Safety Award at the National Policy Design Group Performance Sharing Contest hosted by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, securing a special grant of 100 million KRW.

On the 28th, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety held a performance sharing contest at the Daejeon KW Convention Center for 10 organizations selected through the first and second rounds of expert and public online evaluations. Seongdong-gu participated under the theme "Made in Korea: I am a Proud Sewing Worker" and achieved the honor of receiving the Minister of the Interior and Safety Award.

In March, Seongdong-gu formed the "Seongdong National Policy Design" group, consisting of sewing factory workers who are policy beneficiaries, experts, and public officials, to address issues faced by unregistered sewing factories and workers in policy blind spots.

Subsequently, they conducted in-depth interviews with various sewing factory owners and workers, defined their problems from the beneficiaries' perspective, and made efforts to reflect these in policies through more than ten workshops.

As a result, they established the nation's first career certification system to officially verify the experience of skilled workers who worked long-term without labor contracts and thus had no official labor records.

Finally, on October 30th, the first practical test for the Sewing Career Certification System was held, producing 22 successful candidates. Seongdong-gu aims to enhance the professional pride of sewing workers and plans to link job opportunities through future database construction. Additionally, the certification will be used as instructor credentials when operating the Sewing Academy.

To promote the formalization of unregistered sewing factories, the district provides a 'ONE-CALL' business registration agency service and operates an advisory group to support unregistered garment manufacturers facing difficulties with tax, labor, and legal issues. Seongdong-gu plans to continuously advance the career certification system in accordance with the NCS National Competency Standards through the enactment of the Sewing Career Certification Ordinance.

Jung Won-oh, Mayor of Seongdong-gu, stated, "We plan to refine our sewing worker policies so that they can spread to other local governments," adding, "Winning this ministerial award will serve as an opportunity for communication administration that listens more closely to residents' needs and develops better policies."

Gwanak-gu (Mayor Park Jun-hee) won the Minister of the Interior and Safety Award for the 'Living Commercial Area Development Project' at the '2022 Alley Economy Recovery Support Project Excellence Case Presentation Contest.'

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety holds an annual presentation contest to discover excellent cases among alley economy recovery support projects promoted by local governments nationwide. The evaluation criteria include the institution's efforts to implement the project, actual achievements, and sustainability, with a first round of document screening followed by a second round of presentations.

After passing the first document screening, the second presentation round was held to select the final winners. Gwanak-gu participated with the project "10-Minute Walk Neighborhood Commercial Area, Living Commercial Area Development Project" and won the Excellence Award.

The district was selected for the Living Commercial Area Development Project in Haengun-dong, Nangok-dong, and Daehak-dong, the most among Seoul's autonomous districts, and in January established a mid- to long-term plan for revitalizing alley commercial areas, committing 3.3 billion KRW of district funds over five years, demonstrating strong efforts and determination for the alley economy.

Particularly, the project was highly evaluated for proposing sustainable alley commercial area success models, including installing resident convenience facilities, marketing study groups for commercial area revitalization, and projects to promote commercial area use in Haengun-dong, Nangok-dong, and Daehak-dong.

In 2018, the district established the first dedicated department for local commercial area revitalization among local governments nationwide, and in 2019 conducted a professional research service to establish a comprehensive plan for local economic revitalization, focusing support on the top 10 alley commercial areas central to residents' lives.

Next year, the district plans to explore development plans for alley commercial areas through concrete and practical support such as fostering core stores, supporting SNS promotional content, and local brand projects.

Park Jun-hee, Mayor of Gwanak-gu, said, "We are very pleased that our efforts to revitalize the alley economy have been recognized and that this will serve as an opportunity to widely promote Gwanak-gu's alley economy support policies," adding, "We will continue to pursue anything that helps revitalize the alley economy, the lifeblood of the local economy."

Mapo-gu (Mayor Park Kang-soo) will intensively promote the seasonal fine dust reduction management system from December, when high concentrations of fine dust frequently occur, until March next year to protect residents' health.

Now in its fourth year, the 'Fine Dust Seasonal Management System' is a system that implements strengthened fine dust emission reduction and management measures from December to March of the following year, when fine dust concentrations increase.

The district will implement 14 tasks across four sectors?transportation, heating, workplaces, and exposure reduction?to reduce high concentrations of fine dust frequently occurring in winter.

First, in the transportation sector, the operation of vehicles emitting grade 5 exhaust will be restricted, and fines will be imposed for violations. Additionally, Mapo-gu will organize its own inspection team to crack down on vehicles with excessive emissions and idling vehicles.

Along with this, to encourage voluntary participation in emission reduction, special points will be awarded to passenger car mileage members who drive less than a certain distance (1,960 km).

In the heating sector, the district will support boiler replacement subsidies to expand the distribution of eco-friendly boilers for households and plans to inspect whether 20 large buildings in the area comply with appropriate heating temperatures during winter.

In the workplace sector, experts will diagnose facilities at 89 local air pollutant-emitting workplaces to suggest appropriate reduction rates and reduction measures. Furthermore, for 67 workplaces with high risk of dust scattering, the district will check compliance with dust suppression measures and strengthen restrictions on the use of old construction machinery.

In the exposure reduction sector, roads with dense multi-use facilities such as traditional markets, parks, and shopping areas will be designated as 'fine dust priority management roads' to increase street cleaning and water cleaning frequency for road dust management.

Additionally, the district plans to strengthen indoor air quality management by inspecting ventilation equipment operation and management at 32 sensitive-use facilities, including daycare centers, youth facilities, and underground stations.

Park Kang-soo, Mayor of Mapo-gu, said, "The implementation of the fine dust seasonal management system is effective in reducing the intensity and frequency of high-concentration fine dust occurrences," adding, "We will continue to improve air quality and lead efforts to reduce fine dust through various policies and encouraging resident participation."

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