1. University Students Visit Panmunjeom

[News Script]
Since the North Korean bombardment of Yeonpyeong (연평) Island, voices emphasizing the need for stable national security have been raised throughout Korea. To promote awareness of the importance of national defense among university students, Gyeonggi Province organized a student visit to Panmunjeom (판문점).

[Report]
A group of university students visited Panmunjeom (판문점), which stands on the frontline of national defense in Gyeonggi Province.

Students were invited to participate in a guided tour of the Joint Security Area Battalion, Panmunjeom (판문점), the outposts on the linethe Dora (도라) Mountain Observatory.

92 students were invitedGyeonggi Province to visit the security sites as the provincial government considers it essential for students to see the sites firsthand so that they can develop an awareness of the importance of national security.

Gyeonggi Province Governor Kim Moon-soo volunteered to act as a tour guide for the students. During the special lecture provided at the Dora (도라) Mountain Observatory, Kim stressed the importance of national securitythe necessity for the unification of the two Koreas.
Gyeonggi Provinceadvocating the necessity for strong national security as the foundation for future unification,has been organizing various activities such as security forumsvisits to military bases so as to promote public awareness of security.

2. New Year’s Meeting of 2011 GTX Forum
[News Script]
As full-scale implementation of the GTX project nears, the New Year’s meeting of the 2011 GTX Forum was held to discuss the schedule of the GTX project for the year.

[Report]
Following the incorporation of GTX lines into national projects on the 19th of last month, a forum was held to discuss the schedule of the GTX project for 2011.

During this meeting, which was held as a New Year’s social event for shared familiarization, 27 specialists in railroadurban science were nominated as additional members of the GTX Forum.

In a subsequent presentation, one of the newly nominated members of the forum, Professor Shin Ho-chang (신호창) of Seogang (서강) University, proposed promotion strategies that can be employed to respond to critical arguments against the GTX project.

Professor Shin stated that negative views on GTX may diminish the opinions of opponents are actively soughtconsidered.

The GTX forum was held seven times last year, but the provincial government decided to make it a regular meeting that will convene once every two months. It was also decided to operate a team of advisors consisting of specialistsrelated areas.

Gyeonggi Province has now geared up to commence the construction of GTX lines in 2012complete the work2017.

3. Economy of Gyeonggi Province Key to National Growth
[News Script]
The rate of foreign direct investment in Gyeonggi Province, which was 21% until the mid-2000s, has recently plummeted to just over 10%. Since the securing of investment in the province will have a direct effect on continuous national growth as the provincethe center of national economyindustry, a political forum was held to promote investment in the province

[Report]
The Gyeonggi Research Institute hosted a political forum for the promotion of investment in Gyeonggi Province.

In a presentation, Hwang Sang-yeon (황상연), a researcher at the Gyeonggi Research Institute, pointed out that investment in the provinceforeigners as well aslocal companies has declined,emphasized the necessity for new strategies to recover the competitiveness of the province in securing investment.

Hwang suggested that localforeign companies shouldbe segregated in the provision of investment incentives,that investment inducement efforts should focus on companies that possess advanced technologies that can contribute to industrial advancement as well as on those that will jobs beyond a certain minimum scale. He also argued that deregulation in the capital areaessential for the inducement of companies into the province so as to counteract the current trend of local companies moving their factories to overseas locations.
Gyeonggi Province has been continuously endeavoring to secure investmentforeign companiestransform the province into favorable place for business activities.

4. Special Judicial Police Ensures Safe Eateries During Lunar New Year Season
[News Script]
Food merchants who used expired ingredients or misrepresented the country of origin were uncovered during a crackdownGyeonggi Province.

[Report]
This chocolate company in Gwangju (광주) City was caught using leftover productsthe Valentine Day sales of last February in the production of new products. Officials discovered 10 boxes of chocolates that either have no expiry date or are very much past the expiry date.

The Special Judicial Police of Gyeonggi Province uncovered 33 food businesses that cheated in their use of ingredients such as this chocolate company.

The number of uncovered violations in country-of-origin indication, directives of vendorsthe registration of business didsignificantly decrease compared with the number for the Lunar New Year season last year

Company “A” didindicate on the product the use of expired ingredients,company “B” indicated ingredients that wereused in the product. The owners of these companies will be sentenced to 3 years in prison or fined KRW 30 million in addition to a minimum 15-day suspension of business operations.

Gyeonggi Province will continue the intensive crackdown on Lunar New Year foodshealth foods in large supermarketstraditional markets.

5. Childcare Support for Working Mothers
[News Script]
As the number of women engaged in social activities grows, they face the challenge of simultaneously balancing childcarework. Gyeonggi Province expanded its support of childcare expenses for working women with children.

[Report]
Public nurseries such as this provide childcare services for children0 to 5 years of age. The monthly childcare fees for infants less than 1 year of age, for example, are approximately KRW 400,000. This isa small sum.

Gyeonggi Province provides working women with support for 20% of childcare expenses for the first child50% for the second child for children1 month up to 23 months of age.

For a child less than 1 year of age, childcare fees chargedpublic nurseries amount to KRW 394,000. With childcare support, a mother will pay KRW 215,200 the childher first, or KRW 197,000 the childher second,so on.

This support program will be operated separatelythe raising of income thresholds for full childcare supportthe lower 50% to the lower 70% of low-income brackets in March 2010.

Multicultural families will also be provided with full support for childcare expenses until the child reaches schooling age.

This childcare support for women regardless of income level may offer one effective solution to counteract the low birth ratealleviating the cost of childcare.

6. Pyeongtaek Port Pays Incentive to Cargo Contributors
[News Script]
Pyeongtaek (평택) Port paid incentives to companies that contributed to the increase of cargo traffic volume at the port.

[Report]
Pyeongtaek (평택) Portemerging as one of the major gateways for international tradean advance base for Sino-Korean trade on the West Coast. The Gyeonggi Pyeongtaek (평택) Port Corporation paid incentives to ocean shippingharbor service companies to market the port.

At the Incentive Presentation Ceremony for Cargo Contributors, 45 companies were presented with incentives totaling KRW 400 million based on contributions to increased cargo traffic volume during the periodJuly to December last year.

The Gyeonggi Pyeongtaek (평택) Port Corporation has been actively marketing the port by, for example, inviting CEOs of transportation companies to port presentations.

Pyeongtaek (평택) Port handled 950,000 automobiles for exportimport during 2009, marking an increase of 43% over the previous yearestablishing Pyeongtaek as theautomobile trade port in Korea. Container-based cargo volume also increased18% to 450,000 Twenty-foot Equivalent Units, making the port to the fourth- busiest commercial port in the country.

Since this portgeographically closest to China, itconveniently located for both tradetourism tofrom China.

Gyeonggi Provincethe Gyeonggi Pyeongtaek (평택) Port Corporation have been providing companies that contribute to commercial traffic through the port with incentives since 2007,have been gradually increasing the total amount of support.

Pyeongtaek(평택) Port may well become one of the largest commercial ports in Southeast Asia, especially since Gyeonggi Provinceworking intensely on the development of the port as a major port for Chinese trade through the Gold Coast Project.

7. Happy Lunar New YearSafe Travel Home
[News Script]
Since we had longer Lunar New Year holidays this year, traffic was expected to increase considerably during the holidays. Gyeonggi Province implemented measures to make homecoming travel easier.

[Report]
Gyeonggi Province designated the 7-day periodJanuary 31st to February 6th as the Special Traffic Measures Application Period for the Lunar New Year Holidays.

Since the traffic during the Lunar New Year holidays was expected to increase because the holidays were lengthenedthe subsequent weekend this year, Gyeonggi Province increased the number of buses on localintercity routesprovided real-time traffic information.

Nearly 32 million people were expected to travel during the holiday season, which3.2% more than the previous year

The toll gates on the Uiwang (의왕)-Gwacheon (과천) Expressway were opened during the periodFebruary 2nd to 4th to ease traffic.

The provincial government also organized emergency teams that could be mobilized for snow-removal work during the holiday season. These measures also helped prevent accidents during home going.