If Gifticons Go Unused, It's a 'Warning Sign'... Gwangmyeong City Establishes 'Safe Village' to Prevent Lonely Deaths

Gwangmyeong City, SK Planet, and Social Welfare Centers Join Forces
Checking in on Isolated Households with "Gifticons"
Intensive Management for 120 Middle-Aged and Older Individuals at Risk of Lonely Death

Gwangmyeong City in Gyeonggi Province (Mayor Park Seungwon) announced on March 17 that it will launch the "Safe Village for Preventing Lonely Deaths" project, which uses smart technology and local human resources to check in on households at risk of isolation.

Gwangmyeong City Hall exterior. Provided by Gwangmyeong City

This project is operated through a non-face-to-face monitoring system in which the public sector, local government, and companies cooperate to indirectly monitor the daily activities of households at risk of isolation and detect abnormal signs at an early stage.

The core of the project is to establish a dual safety net by combining non-face-to-face monitoring using the usage status of gifticons (Bizcon) and in-person welfare checks.

If the customized gifticons regularly sent to at-risk households are not used within a set period, this is interpreted as a warning sign.

In such cases, the "Safe Village Team for Preventing Lonely Deaths," consisting of local community leaders familiar with the area, will visit the household in person to check on their well-being and living situation. The comprehensive social welfare centers will then coordinate appropriate welfare services such as emergency livelihood support, care services, and social benefits, thereby addressing gaps in the safety net for the lonely and isolated.

Starting in April, the city plans to work with three comprehensive social welfare centers in Gwangmyeong, Cheolsan, and Haan to select 120 middle-aged and older individuals at high risk of lonely death, and to form the Safe Village Team for Preventing Lonely Deaths to fully implement the project.

In addition, the city is working to build a dense safety net system to prevent loneliness and isolation by operating welfare check services provided by the "Gwangmyeong Hope Dingdong Project Group," the "Single-Person Household Well-being Service," and the "Waflat AI Safe Care" program.

Park Seungwon, Mayor of Gwangmyeong City, stated, "This project is a pioneering care model that combines the technological capabilities of private companies, the expertise of welfare centers, and the local human safety net. We will strengthen our data-driven smart welfare system to create a safe Gwangmyeong without loneliness or isolation."

Meanwhile, on March 16, Gwangmyeong City signed a business agreement for the "Safe Village for Preventing Lonely Deaths" project at the city hall’s main conference room with SK Planet and the three regional comprehensive social welfare centers in Gwangmyeong, Cheolsan, and Haan.

Under the agreement, Gwangmyeong City will oversee the management of beneficiaries and the formation of the Safe Village Team, while SK Planet will support the distribution of customized gifticons and share usage data.

Each comprehensive social welfare center is responsible for identifying beneficiaries in their respective regions and conducting in-person welfare checks on households that do not use the gifticons, ensuring a hands-on response.

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