1. Japanese Public Officials Learn Mobile Civil Applications Service OperationsGyeonggi Province

[News Script]
On January 21, Gyeonggi Province received a visita delegation of Japanese officials. The visitors toured the sites of mobile civil applications service operations in the provincewitnessed the advanced service tem of Gyeonggi Province firsthand.

[Report]
A bus arrives in front of the Gyeonggi Provincial Government Complex. Alightingthe bus are 27 Japanese officials22 citiesprovinces in Japan.

These foreign officials are visiting to benchmark the public service offices of Gyeonggi Province.

They first visited the Gyeonggi Call Center,inquiriesprovincial residents are receivedansweredtelephone,went on to visit the 24/365 Public Service Officethe Public Service Office at Suwon (수원) Station.

The Japanese officials boarded the train that makes four round trips a day between Dongtan (동탄) StationSeongbuk (성북) Station on Subway Line 1. They visited the on-board public service officeasked the attending Gyeonggi provincial officials questions.

A variety of new service operations in Gyeonggi Province that breakthe conventional limitations of operating hourslocation are drawing more attentionforeign administrative service agencies.

2. Briquettes Delivered to Seniors Living without Family

[News Script]
University students in Gyeonggi Province are bringing warmth to the winter through a voluntary service program of delivering briquettesrice to seniors who live alone.

[Report]
Wearing wristlets, glovesworkman’s aprons, a team of volunteer university students line up in a narrow alleypass briquettesone to the next.

They have 2,100 briquettes to deliver to seven homes of seniors who are living alone without family members. The briquette storagequickly filled through the hard work of this 45-member volunteer team,the hearts of both deliverersrecipients are warmedthe spirit of sharing.

Yang O-jae (양오재) got up early in the morningswept the snow off the road to prepare for the arrival of the volunteer team. He received a 20kg sack of rice as well as briquettes

Gyeonggi Province Governor Kim Moon-soo (김문수) also rolled up his sleeveshelped carry briquettes.

The quantity of briquettes delivered that day will last three months. The briquette-sharing program of Gyeonggi Provincebringing warmth to the homes of needy neighbors.

3. Overnight Communication Camp through Twitter

[News Script]
Gyeonggi Province organized a camp for communication with university students through a social networking service.
[Report]

A forum was organized for university student journalists in Gyeonggi Province who relay the news of the provincethe perspective of their peers.

This forum was held as an open-discussion event via Twitter under the theme of ‘Social Networking ServiceCommunication.’

During this forum, which was relayed live through afreeca TV, a variety of subjects including political, socialcultural issues were discussed. Gyeonggi Province Governor Kim Moon-soo (김문수) talked with participating studentsanswered questionsstudent journalists.

During the meeting, a telephone line was connected to the commander of the battle ship Choiyeong (최영), Captain Cho Yeongju (조영주), who recently led the mission that succeeded in rescuing Korean hostagesSomali pirates,a message of praiseencouragement was relayed to the young navy sailors.

The student journalists had time to express the thoughts they have had after one year of journalism activities via Twitterto present the content they had d.

Other offline events were also held during the camp, primarily traditional plays associated with New Year’s Good Wishes, such as Daljip (달집) Burning, ‘a camp fire under the moon’,Kite-of-Hope flying. Itsaid that communicationthe best way to close up the gap between generations,finding common solutionsthe first step toward the prevention of generational conflictthe formation of solidarity.

4. Image-lifting of Namhansanseong

[News Script]
As the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage registration of Namhansanseong (남한산성), an ancient mountain fortress in Gwangju (광주) City, has almost become fait accompli, Gyeonggi Province plans to developpromote characters of the fortress.

[Report]
Gyeonggi Provincethe Namhansanseong (남한산성) CultureTourism Project Initiatives plan to developuse the characters of Namhansanseong (남한산성) so as to convey the historycultural value of the site in an easiermore open manner.

The personified Namhansanseong (남한산성) characters will consist of ‘Namie (남이)’, “Hanie (한이)”“Sanseongie (산성이)’, which have been endowed with the original names of the fortress facilities.

This fortressthe site of tragicdisgraceful historic events such as the triumphant but disgraceful 17th–century war against the invading Ching Dynasty, in which the Choseon (조선) King had to flee to this fortress. Ithoped that the characters will help relay the story of the fortress in a more accessible manner.

The provincial governmentthe Namhansanseong (남한산성) CultureTourism Project Initiatives plan to use these characters in performances, exhibitionseducational programs in the fortress as well as in festivals, eventsthe production of a variety of souvenirs.

The Namhansanseong (남한산성) Provincial Parkthe number one natural park in the capital areaa pine forestmany cultural assets, including the fortress itselfa temporary palace, are well preserved. With 3.2 million visitors a year, this park has become a major leisure area for provincial residents. The provincial government has been endeavoring to improve the park environment for visitors through such initiatives as the operation of electric petrol cars.

5. Gyeonggi Province Leads National Security Movements

[News Script]
Gyeonggi Province, as home to 70% of the nation’s military forces,strategically a very important region for national security. The provincial government invited security specialistsheld a symposium to discuss wayswhich to develop defensive sciencestechnologies.

[Report]
The National Security, ScienceTechnology Symposium was held at the Seoul Kyoyuk Munhwa Hoegwan (서울교육문화회관) on January 19th.

More than 150 specialists in sciencetechnology policynational security participated in this symposium. Gyeonggi Province Governor Kim Moon-soo (김문수) stated during the event that he felt compelled to organize this symposium since, as the head of the provincial government, it his responsibility to develop ways to protect the 24 million residents living within the capital area.

During the presentation session, Park Chang-gyu (박창규), the Director of the Agency for Defense Development, delivered a speech on ‘Strategy for the development of defense sciencestechnologies.’

During his presentation, Park (박) stressed the necessity for the development of Korea-specific armscore technologies of international caliber to prepare for the changing defense environment. The topics of presentationsother specialists included recommendation of cooperation between the militaryprivate sectors in advancing sciencestechnologies for the establishment of a firm foundation for national security.

6. Unsold New Houses to Be Leased Out on Deposit or Rental Basis

[News Script]
The rising trend of lease depositsrents that began last yearcontinuing this year. Failure of the housing supply to catch up with demandprolonging the difficulty of working classes in securing housing. As a measure of alleviating the housing problem, Gyeonggi Province announced a policy whichbased primarily on supplying unsold houses on a deposit or rental basis.

[Report]
Already this year, the lease deposit for an apartment in Maetan-dong (매탄동) of Suwon (수원) City has risenKRW 20-30 million compared with last year.

Since August last year, the average lease deposit in Gyeonggi Province has risen4.2%,demandstill increasing although wintera slack season. So, the rising trendexpected to continue through the first quarter of the year. The reasons for such an increase are the shortage of lease deposit-based housingthe trend of preference for leasing over purchasing.

Foreseeing that this trend willbe curtailed in the short term, Gyeonggi Province prepared measures for the stabilization of lease depositsrents.

The major contents of the announced measures include supplying 262 unsold new houses ownedthe Gyeonggi Urban Innovation Corporation in the cities of Gimpo (김포)Paju (파주) as well as 400 other unsold new houses ownedprivate construction companies on a lease deposit or rental basis for occupation in April. The provincial government will also provide accurate deposit-based leaserental transaction price information through the provincial homepageexpand the supply of small homes for 1 to 2 occupants.

In addition, Gyeonggi Province plans to continuously make suggestions to the Ministry of Land, TransportMaritime Affairs to expand the supply of rental housingfor the early commencement of construction work on public rental housing.

7. No More Worries about Employment, Education Work

[News Script]
To put one of the 5th term government’s pledges into practice, Gyeonggi Province launched the “Go for it! Sergeant Kim” project to help discharged soldiers successfully find employmentestablish themselves in society. This project produced the first group of discharged soldiers who completed an employment support educational program that began last December.

[Report]
“Go for it! Sergeant Kim”a customized employment support program for discharged soldiers.

The first participants in this program completed the course,a completion ceremony was held.

Among the 64 discharged soldiers who participated in this educational program, 11 already successfully found early employment during the course of the program.
Some of those who completed the 4-week course will work in smallmedium-sized companies in the province as internsreceive a stipend of KRW800,000 for up to 8 months.

In September last year, Gyeonggi Province signed an MOU with the Korean Army for employment support for discharged soldiers,appointed a designated consultant in the Gyeonggi Employment Center. It has since been helping discharged soldiers successfully re-adapt to society.

Also, in October last year, a special employment exhibition was organized for discharged soldiers,a total of 42 out of 136 participants succeeded in finding employment. Gyeonggi Province will continue providing employment support education for discharged soldiersplans to operate the same program this year for 200 discharged soldiers.

Applications for participation may be submitted through the homepage of the Gyeonggi Employment Center (www.intoin.or.kr) or at the local employment centers.