MOU signed with Korea Gas Corporation (KOGAS), Jeju Air and Community Chest of Korea on May 27

Roundtrip tickets, onsite costs, album production costs and fuel surcharges to be provided for three years 

◇ Governor Nam Kyung-pil, KOGAS Gyeonggi District Division Chief Kim Won-bae, Jeju Air CEO Cho Nam-kyu and Community Chest of Korea Secretary General Kim Hyo-jin pose for photo after signing the MOU for the “Multicultural Families’ Homeland Visit” project on May 27. ⓒ Gyeonggi G-News Yoo Je-hoon

Gyeonggi Province is offering the opportunity for homeland visits to those multicultural families who have been unable to do so due to financial difficulties.

Governor Nam Kyung-pil signed the MOU with KOGAS Gyeonggi District Division Chief Kim Won-bae, Jeju Air CEO Cho Nam-kyu and Community Chest of Korea Secretary General Kim Hyo-jin for the “Multicultural Families’ Homeland Visit” project on May 27 at the Gyeonggi Provincial Government Complex in Suwon.

This project provides multicultural families in Gyeonggi Province with the opportunity to visit their home countries. A total of 55 beneficiary families, 220 people in total, will be offered free round-trip tickets, as well as onsite costs, photo album production costs and fuel surcharges over a three-year period.

Gyeonggi Province will oversee administrative functions, including selecting beneficiaries within the province as well as district and promotional works for the project. Concurrently, the KOGAS Gyeonggi District Division will donate KRW 35 million annually, while Jeju Airline will provide free round-trip tickets. In addition, the Gyeonggi branch of the Community Chest of Korea will receive and manage contributions. Based on the corporate and social activities of the participants, the MOU is expected to increase the community solidarity. 

At the MOU signing ceremony, Governor Nam said, “Thirty percent of the nation’s multicultural families live in Gyeonggi Province. We shall therefore do our utmost to help them successfully establish themselves in this country as members of society so that they can also become a driving force for societal development.”

Chief Kim Won-bae commented, “Collaboration for multicultural families is now a necessity, not an option. I hope that this initiative will continue even after three years by inducing synergy effects through collaboration with Gyeonggi Province and Jeju Airlines.” CEO Choi Kyu-nam said, “We were planning a multicultural family support effort, but we soon encountered difficulties as a private enterprise. We no longer have concerns about promoting such a project because of the MOU signed today.”

◇ Governor Nam said, “Thirty percent of the nation’s multicultural families live in Gyeonggi Province. We shall therefore do our utmost to help them to successfully establish themselves in this country as members of society so that they can also become a driving force for societal development.” ⓒ Gyeonggi G-News Yoo Je-hoon

In the meantime, Min Ji-won, who is from the Philippines and a representative of multicultural families, attended the event with her husband and daughter. She was quoted as saying, “I am so excited to visit my home country after the passage of five years since my last visit. I will visit my dad’s grave and create many precious memories for my children with their grandmother.” She added, “I hope that those multicultural families who have hard time visiting their homelands due to financial reasons will benefit from this project.”

Governor Nam said, “I hope that everyone will have good time while visiting their homelands. I also hope that these families will have even happier lives here in Gyeonggi Province.” He added, “From now on, we will try our best to induce more support from other companies so as to lessen the burden on the participating companies while also giving more opportunities to additional beneficiaries.” 

The concept for this MOU is reported to have originated during “Meet the Governor”, a regular Friday session during which Governor Nam meets members of the public to resolve civil issues. During a session held last July, Governor Nam positively responded to a “multicultural family homeland visit initiative” suggested by Hashemian Mohammad, a 47-year-old individual from Iran who lives in Uijeongbu. 

Subsequently, Gyeonggi Province discussed possible measures for the multicultural families’ homeland visits at an executive-level women and childcare roundtable conference for northern cities and counties held this past January. In March, the province directly suggested the project to KOGAS Gyeonggi District Division and Jeju Airlines, and these companies indicated their willingness to commit.

The number of multicultural family members residing in Gyeonggi Province currently stands at 86,337 people, accounting for 29.2% of the 295,842 multicultural family members nationwide. The province is promoting multicultural family-customized support efforts, including Korean language education, visiting education, interpretation/translation services, career counseling, job education and multicultural society education, all which are geared to facilitate their successful settlement in society. 

◇ This project offers multicultural families in Gyeonggi Province an opportunity to visit their home countries. A total of 55 beneficiary families, 220 people in total, will be offered free round-trip tickets, as well as onsite costs, photo album production costs and fuel surcharges over a three-year period. ⓒ Gyeonggi G-News Yoo Je-hoon

ⓒ Gyeonggi G-News | Lee Jun-kyun eyekle@hanmail.net 

http://gnews.gg.go.kr/news/news_detail.asp?number=201505271042117055C048&s_code=C048