Jeonnam Governor Kim Young-rok's Efforts for Vulnerable Groups Amid 'Cold Wave and Soaring Heating Costs'

[Muan=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] Kim Young-rok, Governor of Jeonnam Province, is carrying out public welfare activities to support vulnerable groups facing difficulties due to the cold wave and soaring heating costs, despite his busy schedule including visits to central government ministries and resolving regional issues in the new year.

According to Jeonnam Province on the 3rd, Governor Kim visited two households of elderly living alone in Mokpo to personally check on their difficulties and offer comfort.

Prior to this, he consecutively visited a household of an elderly person living alone in Jangseong on the 26th of last month and a low-income single-parent family in Gokseong on the 29th. Going forward, he plans to continue on-site visits to directly observe the hardships of vulnerable groups.

He also visited households undergoing home repairs by the ‘Our Neighborhood Welfare Mobile Unit,’ which proactively supports crisis households facing increased difficulties during winter, to check heating conditions and listen to any challenges.

Our Neighborhood Welfare Mobile Unit has been focusing on home repairs mainly for elderly households from December to February in preparation for the winter season. By the end of last year, it supported 1,223 households, far exceeding the target of 1,000 households.

The province plans to continue intensive support for winter crisis households through the Our Neighborhood Welfare Mobile Unit until February without delay.

Since its launch in April 2019, Our Neighborhood Welfare Mobile Unit has supported a total of 95,268 households with 14.8 billion KRW. It plans to continuously expand the number of beneficiaries through budget procurement and linkage with private resources.

Governor Kim also visited a household of an elderly person living alone who had been mentally distressed due to the death of his eldest daughter and received the AI companion robot Hedol-i, carefully checking his health condition and whether he had any difficulties using the robot.

Governor Kim said, “We have urgently injected contingency funds to 55,000 low-income single-parent families and elderly living alone, providing 200,000 KRW per household totaling 11.1 billion KRW, 14.8 billion KRW for 9,212 senior centers, and 500 million KRW for 879 social welfare facilities, amounting to a total of 26.4 billion KRW in heating cost support. However, we are reviewing additional support measures to provide stronger protection for the severely vulnerable groups,” adding, “We will prioritize public welfare and prepare measures that empower and assist citizens in difficulty.”

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