Seoul City Policy Nationwide... 'Seoul Run' Policy Sharing Agreement with Chungbuk

First Case of Regional Sharing for 'Seoul Run'
Targeting 1,200 Students in Chungbuk
Discussion on Introducing 'Medical Expense Postpayment System' in Chungbuk

The Seoul Metropolitan Government is set to share policies in the fields of education and healthcare with Chungcheongbuk-do. This marks a full-scale movement to expand policies led by Seoul, which is pioneering local government policies in South Korea through initiatives such as Seoul Run and Didimdol Income.

On the afternoon of the 23rd, Seoul announced that it will sign a "Seoul-Chungcheongbuk-do Excellent Policy Exchange Memorandum of Understanding" at Seoul City Hall. The signing ceremony will be attended by Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon and Chungbuk Governor Kim Young-hwan.

Through this agreement, Seoul will share its educational ladder program "Seoul Run," while Chungbuk will exchange its healthcare welfare system "Medical Expense Deferred Payment" as the first policies. Chungbuk plans to connect 1,200 youths living in six population-declining cities and counties within the province with "Seoul Run," providing high-quality online educational content and supporting customized mentoring utilizing local talents. The educational content will be provided through a site linked to the "Seoul Run" platform, and Seoul will cooperate in overall project operations including ▲providing a joint Seoul Run platform ▲supporting mentoring operations and promotion ▲supporting specialized programs such as career counseling, college admission consultation, and job experience.

Seoul and Chungbuk expect that "Seoul Run" will serve as a catalyst not only for bridging educational gaps between income groups but also for closing the educational disparity between Seoul and regional areas. In Chungbuk, the "educational environment gap" accounts for a significant factor in population outflow, with frequent cases of students and parents leaving the region in search of better educational environments in population-declining areas.

This policy exchange draws particular attention as the first case of expanding "Seoul Run," which has proven effective in improving student performance and reducing private education expenses, to regional areas. Seoul plans to actively share policy know-how and platforms with any regions that express interest in the future.

Seoul has decided to benchmark Chungbuk’s representative healthcare welfare system, the "Medical Expense Deferred Payment" project. The two local governments will also sign a practical MOU on "Establishing a Seoul-Chungbuk Joint Task Force for the Introduction of the Medical Expense Deferred Payment Pilot Project." The "Medical Expense Deferred Payment" system, first implemented nationwide by Chungbuk, supports vulnerable groups who cannot receive timely treatment due to the burden of large upfront payments by providing loans for medical expenses, allowing patients to repay in long-term interest-free installments. Through the task force, Seoul plans to jointly design a "Seoul-type Medical Expense Deferred Payment" system reflecting Seoul’s medical environment and demographic structure based on Chungbuk’s successful case, and launch a pilot project in the second half of next year.

Meanwhile, following Chungbuk, Seoul plans to sign a memorandum of understanding with Pyeongchang County in Gangwon-do on the 27th for joint use and cooperation of the Seoul Run platform.

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