Seoul City and Autonomous Districts Provide 74.2 Billion KRW Support for Energy-Vulnerable Groups

Meeting of District Heads Held Under Mayor's Leadership

[Asia Economy Reporter Kiho Sung] The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on the 27th that it held a district mayor meeting chaired by Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon regarding the 'Cold Wave Response Livelihood Safety Measures' to provide stronger support for energy-vulnerable groups struggling with the recent surge in heating costs and unprecedented cold waves.

For this joint response, Seoul City and the autonomous districts plan to invest a total of 74.2 billion KRW, with Seoul City contributing 68 billion KRW and the districts 6.2 billion KRW.

First, Seoul City announced three major support measures for cold wave-vulnerable groups and sought cooperation from the districts. First, Seoul City will urgently provide 34.6 billion KRW in heating cost support to vulnerable groups and welfare facilities suffering from the sharp rise in heating costs due to the severe cold wave.

Additionally, as a mid- to long-term measure, to minimize cold wave damage to winter housing-vulnerable households, Seoul City will carry out a home repair project supporting insulation?which reduces energy costs?along with window replacement, eco-friendly boilers, wallpapering, and flooring. This project will target 1,150 households this year with a total investment of 13.7 billion KRW.

To strengthen cooperation between the city and districts for energy-vulnerable groups, 19.7 billion KRW will be invested to expand the scale of energy vouchers for vulnerable groups, promote energy efficiency in elderly and childcare facilities, and increase the distribution of cold protection supplies.

The 25 autonomous districts have established cold wave response measures tailored to their respective situations, with Gwangjin-gu and Seocho-gu presenting exemplary cold wave response cases. Lee Seong-heon, Chairman of the Seoul Special City District Mayors' Council, stated, “We will actively cooperate to ensure that the proactive support policies prepared by Seoul City are well implemented, and at the district level, we will devise measures that can provide practical help.”

Mayor Oh Se-hoon said, “The most urgent administrative issue for Seoul this winter is energy, and we will not delay any support for it,” adding, “Even before Seoul City’s budget is allocated, please prioritize using the existing budget so that sufficient heating operation is possible in welfare facilities, and furthermore, the city and districts should actively cooperate to meticulously ensure that no blind spots or disparities in support occur.” He concluded, “Seoul City will do its best to ensure a warm winter and accompany the vulnerable through the winter season.”

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