Greetings, everyone, and thank you for joining us for this week’s edition of GTV.
I’m Don Valiant and this is the news from Gyeonggi Province this week.

Article 1.Gyeonggi’s Contents Business Startup Support for Youths(0217)

[Anchor’s Headline]

The Gyeonggi Contents Korea Lab has been operating an audition-based business startup support program for youths who aspire to start businesses in contents fields using their own ideas. On February 14, the final contestants, who were selected for support after fierce competition, showcased their business items at a presentation event entitled “Super Ggero (끼어로) Market Day”.

[Report]

▶Audition-based Business Startup Support Program
An exciting B-boy performance and exhilarating music is part of a wedding ceremony designed forthe tastes of youths. This is one of the business items that contestants hope to sell on this market day. All contestants have been guided by the lab through the entire creation process fortheir business items.

▶Jeong Jong-wook / Member of Tuxe-boys
“I am pleased that Tuxe-boys can go a step further through this program.”
The business ideas presented at this event utilize a variety of contents media such as illumination art, colorful ornaments and paper toys.A total of forty ideas have been selected through auditions that began last November.

▶Support for Youths with Great Ideas and Traits in Contents Fields
The objective of this program is to identify youths who have great business ideas as well as traits, or ggi (끼),in contents fields, but who lack the knowledge and resources for business launches, and to provide them with business startup support including consultation and financial support.

▶Sales of KRW 15 Million Achieved via Social Commerce in January.
Last month, contents products were launched through social networking services and have since achieved sales of KRW 15 million from 630 orders.

▶Won Seong-il / member of Studio-On
“We underwent a number of trials and errors. Mentors at the Super Ggero gave us a lot of help.”
The top prize winner of this business audition will be receive prize money of KRW 20 million as well as opportunities to work with Pangyo (판교) Techno Valley resident enterprises.

▶Park Ji-yeon / Gyeonggi Contents Agency
“We helped youths with the marketing of their contents products through social commerce”
Gyeonggi Province will continue to operate this audition-based survival program for business startup support so as to help aspiring young entrepreneursrealizebusiness opportunities.

Article 2. Industrial Site Visits by Gyeonggi Officials Produce Positive Results(0216-1)

[Anchor’s Headline]
Industrial site visits by Gyeonggi provincial officials, which began when Governor Nam took office, have been producing positive results in resolving on-site industrial issues. Our reporter examined the details.

[Report]

▶Yeongbuk – myeon, Pocheon City
This area in Pocheon (포천) City of Gyeonggi Province is occupied by six enterprises, but there is only one entry road though which trucks move in and out of their plants dozens of times daily.Transportation via this road became even worse after it was damaged by heavy rainfall. However, when the problem was reported to the provincial government, Gyeonggi Province’s Industrial SOS Team immediately arrived at the site and renovated the road within days.

▶Lee Jeom-dong / Director, Jeongwoo Food Co.
“After we reported the problem last summer, the road was completely refurbished including water drainage pipes and asphalt-concrete pavement work. Goods and personnelcan now be transported safely.”

▶Gyeonggi Province Industrial SOS Team Visited 6,000 Enterprises in 2014
Last year alone, the Industrial SOS Team of Gyeonggi Provincevisited more than 6,000 industrial sitesand resolved more than 10,000 site issues with an average resolution time of less than three days.Gyeonggi Province also spent KRW 13.2 billion on working environment improvements that benefited 1,600 enterprises and their 21,000 employees.

▶Park Seong-jin / Gyeonggi Province Enterprise Support Division Officer
“We improve working environments which, in turn, helps industries expand their operations and employment. It also helps local society…”
Since the beginning of his term in office, Gyeonggi Province Governor Nam Kyung-pilhas led provincial officials in visits to enterprisework sites so as to facilitate anunderstanding oflocal problems first hand and help resolve issues. This site-oriented industrial support policy of Gyeonggi Province will continue.

Article 3.Gyeonggi Province Aids Wastepaper-collecting Seniors(0216-3)

[Anchor’s Headline]
An aged personpushing a handcart loaded precariously with wastepaperalonga busy streetis a familiar scene in urban areas of Korea. In Gyeonggi Province, these seniors will now be provided with living expense support.

[Report]
These individuals are living on a meager income from workingall day,collecting everythingfrom empty bottles to paper boxes that can be resold at waste collection depotsfor recycling. Many of them are unfit for such hard work.

▶5,800 Wastepaper-collecting Seniors Exist in Gyeonggi Province
57% are Basic Livelihood Benefit Recipients or Next Lowest Income Earners
For these elderly individuals, work is the only way to make ends meet.

▶Gwon Yeong-bok (Aged 80) / Il-dong, Ansan
“I have third-degree disabilities, but I have to work to buy food for me and my wife.”
Working from dawn every day, Gwon (권) earns only KRW 70-80 for a kilogram of waste paper and makes less than KRW 100,000 a month.

▶Gyeonggi Province Provides Living Expense Support to Wastepaper Collecting Seniors
Gyeonggi Province began providingsuch seniors with living expense support of KRW 20,000 and safety education from this month.

▶Safety Equipment and Clothes
Gyeonggi Provincewill also provide luminous vests, heating pads and warm clothes, and make the luminous painting of handcarts compulsory.

▶Lee Il-yong / Director, Gyeonggi Province Senior Welfare Division
“The support program for wastepaper-collecting seniors will be implemented in three regions including Ansan City on a trial basis this year, and will be expanded to the entire province next year.”
Although the amount of support may not be substantial for the livelihood of these individuals, Gyeonggi Province hopes that this program will help them to some extent.

Article 4.Gyeonggi Warm and Blessed Community Creation Meeting(0217-1)

[Anchor’s Headline]
On February 16, Gyeonggi Province invited members of the public to a meeting to discuss ways in which to create warm and blessed communities, one of the key policies of the provincial administration this term.

[Report]

▶Gyeonggi Provincial Government Complex (February 16)
Public-Private Meeting for Warm & Blessed Community Creation
This event was organized as a brainstorming sessionin which participants freely proposed and discussed suggestionswith one another informally.

▶80 Gyeonggi Senior Officials and Public Members Convened
Gyeonggi Province Governor Nam Kyung-pil announced earlier that the creation of warm and blessed communities should be promoted autonomously with minimum involvement from the provincial administration. This coincides with the invitation of twenty-seven representatives of the public from local communitiesas well as private social and research organizations to this meeting. The meeting proceeded with nine teams functionally divided according to the hosting provincial office.

▶Lee Geun-ho / Director, Suwon Renaissance Center
“There are many unused land areas. If we investigate such odd pieces of land and allow local residents to utilize them as flower or vegetable gardens…”
An economist suggested the application of economic models for sustainable operation of the warm and blessed communities.

▶Bang Tae-hyeong / Gyeonggi Province Community Enterprise Association
“It is important for us to discover local communities with characters for thematic development. I believe that sustainability cannot be guaranteed without themes.”
Gyeonggi Provincewill continue to communicate with the public through events like this so as to reflect public opinions in provincial policies.

▶Gyeonggi Province Governor Nam Kyung-pil
“People are suggesting all kind of ideas. Some of them are truly excellent. I hope that such wonderful ideas will eventually lead to the creation of abetter Gyeonggi Province.”
Gyeonggi Provinceexpects that the provincial warm and blessed community support programs will be able to begin in May after the related ordinance is enacted next month.

Article 5.Gyeonggi Province Helps Private Constructors with Material Testing (0216-2)

[Anchor’s Headline]
There is an increasing trend among private constructors to use Gyeonggi Province’sconstruction material testing resourcesinstead of their own for their construction projects. A GTV reporter examined the reasons.

[Report]

▶Road Expansion Work Site, Hwaseong
At a road expansion work site in Hwaseong (화성) City, a team of inspectors perform a road surfacerigidity test.Results are produced on site. This team was from theGyeonggi Province Construction Headquarters.

▶Lee Sang-gi / Site Manager, Hyundai Construction Co.
“We have our own testing laboratories, but we often use the services of public organizations because of their higher credibility and testing qualities.”
Gyeonggi Province’s construction laboratory is capable of more than sixty different types of tests.

▶Fee Revenue from 4,730 Test Requests Amounts to KRW 150 Million in 2014
The number of test requests has been increasing recently, adding to provincial revenue.

▶10 to 20% Lower Fees and Higher Quality Testing Results Attract Private Constructors
In addition to high credibility and testing quality, provincial testing services cost nearly 20 percent lessthan those of private facilities.

▶Kim Jong-jun / Chief Official, Gyeonggi Province Construction Headquarters Quality Testing Team
“(Instead of letting them come to us), we bring equipment to work sites. We also endeavor to provide accurate testing services in theshortest possible period of time so as to help meet construction work schedules.”
To accommodate theincreasing number of testing service requests, the headquarters plans to publish guidelines and simplify procedures for both corporate and personal construction enterprises.

Article 6.Gyeonggi Establishes More Personal Assistant Training Facilities(0213-2)

[Anchor’s Headline]
Gyeonggi Province announced that it will establish more training facilities for professionalpersonal assistantsso as to address increasing demand for helpers among individuals with disabilities.

[Report]

▶Suwon City Disabled Welfare Center
There are fewpersonal assistant education facilities only two, in fact in Gyeonggi Province, while anincreasing number of individuals are applying for such training.

▶2,000 on Personal Assistant Education Waiting List
There are more than two thousand individuals on waiting listsat the training centers.

▶Park Hyeon-jeong / Social Welfare Worker, Suwon City Disabled Welfare Center
“We are unable to supply enough personal assistants to people with disabilities as well as to accommodate those who applied for personal assistant training, which makes it difficult for us to work on our services.”
Even those who are lucky enough to enter the training course usually have to spend hours commuting.

▶[PiP]Kim Jin-hui / Personal Assistant Trainee
“Commuting is a big problem. I have to wake up very early to travel all the way from Yeoju to Suwon. I just wish that there was a training center nearby.”
Gyeonggi Provincecurrently plans to establish seven more personal assistant training centers.

[CG]Thesenew training centers will open at strategic locations throughout the province.

▶Seo Dong-wan / Director, Gyeonggi Province Disabled Welfare Division
“It has been especially inconvenient for those who had to travel long distances, which is why we decided to open 7 more locations. Based on the results, we will add more training centers.”

▶NewPersonal Assistant Education Centers to Open In April
New personal assistant education centers are expected to open training courses in April. With the added supply of personal assistants, welfare services for individuals with disabilities will be greatly improved in Gyeonggi Province.

Article 7.Gyeonggi Province Promotes ‘Kind Consumption’(0212)

[Anchor’s Headline]
In Korea, So Good Storessellitems produced by social enterprises and underprivilegedsocial groups using the marketing phrase ‘kind consumption’. Gyeonggi Province opened up its government complex for a So Good Store special bazaar.

[Report]

▶Seongnam Self-support Center
The Seongnam (성남) Self-support Center producestofu without using any additives. This center has more than a hundred regular clients and made a profit of more than KRW 40 million last year. Profits are used to finance the business startup training of its membersin low income brackets. However, this center is still struggling with productmarketing although their products are superior in quality and taste.

▶Cho I-seul / Seongnam Self-support Center Team Leader
“We have problems withsales because it is extremely difficult to have our products recognized. Consumers are reluctant to buy from us.”

▶So Good Store, Seongnam
The So Good Store is a private company first opened in Gyeonggi Province in 2011 to connect consumers with products made by self-supporting centers, social enterprises, senior clubs and disabled individual groups. Unlike commercially produced food items, most of their products arehealthier and environment-friendly.

▶33 So Good Stores nationwide, 13 in Gyeonggi Province
Since its establishment, the number of So Good Store outlets increased to thirty-three nationwide, of which thirteen are in Gyeonggi Province.

▶Gyeonggi Provincial Government Complex (February 11 ~ 12)
So Good Store Special Bazaar
The special bazaar was organized by Gyeonggi Provinceto promote the So Good Store and kind consumption

▶Gyeonggi Province Social Unification Vice Governor Lee Gi-woo
“This company needsa lot of support until its business is on a firm foundation. We will jointly develop marketingstrategies. Their products are surprisingly good, and I am certain that consumers will find them most satisfactory…”
Promotion of kind consumption is also expected to help these small businesses create new jobs for economically and socially underprivilegedindividuals.

Thank you for joining us for this week’s edition of GTV.
We look forward to seeing you again next week.