[Cheerful Start]

In March, school is in session and incoming freshmen will make a fresh start at their new schools. Of those students, some came to school to start a new life.

The Gyeonggido Polytechnic School, which used to have separate campuses in Hwaseong and Ansan, consolidated campuses in Hwaseong on March 7, and held their first entrance ceremony since combining.

Gyeonggido Polytechnic School which scored well in certificate qualification ratings last year attained its record-breaking ratio of 3.61:1, total applicants to successful applicants.

One student stands out among the crowd of students at a lecture hall in Motor Vehicles Maintenance, one of the most competitive majors in this school.Her name is Yeonghwa Son, she is 52 years old, recently retired from work not long ago, and is hopeful about her life after matriculation.

I will study hard to learn the techniques here. I hope that I could get a new job that is better than my old job.

Other students majoring in Motor Vehicle Maintenance also have high hopes.I want to have my own shop one day. I will work hard to achieve my dream in the future. Technical schools offer a second chance to live a new life in these times of high unemployment rates.

[Investment in Theater Animations]

Animation screenings at Korean theaters are mostly from the US and Japan. Very rarely are Korean animations released. As a result Gyeonggi province and animation production companies have assembled to start the theater animation business.

Gyeonggi province will involve in theater animation productions. The province signed an agreement with the MK pictures, a movie production company and O-Dol Ddoogi, an animation production company, on March 11.

This agreement is significant in the sense of the commencement of a 99 million-dollar a year culture-industry promoting investment. Many people are concerned with this issue because the local autonomous entity is directly involved in this investment by constituting a culture-contents fund.

By encouraging nongovernmental investments and backing them up stably, we will make sure more money streams into the culture industry.

Up until now, it was really hard for a Korean animation to succeed in the theater industry. However, from now on, with direct investment from the local autonomous entity and distribution managed by a large company, there is a greater possibility for domestic animations to succeed.

There will be a successful synergic outcome if O-Dol Ddoogi and our cinematic know-how are combined. Gyeonggi province will continue this project and encourage each area of the culture industry at international levels.

[Do it Yourself Apartments]

The idea of do it yourself products, like the kinds bought at stores, will be applied to some apartments in several new cities in Gyeonggi province. This is a design that gives a nature-friendly impression with a water screen set up in front of the apartment complex.

This design won the winning prize for the ‘apartment idea public subscription display,’ which involves only nonprofessional artists.

This work has been evaluated to be effective in raising the aesthetic quality of the entire apartment complex, and, thereby, relieves the emotional distress of many home buyers.

There were various design works created by nonprofessional artists. For example, there was a sculpture meant to resemble the wind, and an apartment roof top garnished like a tree. The Gyeonggi Urban Innovation Corporation opened this subscription to apply consumers’ ideas to actual buildings.

Though the consumers cannot be involved in the construction process, will apply consumers’ ideas can apply to our buildings.

From now on, Gyeonggi province will hold this subscription display annually, so that it enhances the number of buildings built according to consumer needs.

[Late Learners’ Dreams]

People craving for a chance to learn, are attaining their dreams through late education. Recently, an elementary school designed specially for adult learners has opened. This elementary school in Siheung city, Gyeonggi province, is slightly different from other elementary schools.

The students are not children; instead they are adults, between the ages of thirty and seventy years old. In the 50s through 70s, Korea was a poor country and many people did not have a chance to attend school. I founded this school for those adults who did not attend.

“What should we do to have fun~”

The students read aloud their books resonantly and neatly write down the words in their notebooks. They all are very earnest.

I am happy to learn new words. I come here every day because it is so much fun, I will continue to work hard to advance into middle school

This school runs on three terms a year and students graduate in their fourth year of studies. Afterwards, they receive the qualification to move on to higher education.

We will split the students into two groups according to their levels and teach basic courses at one side. Though they are no longer children, their dreams are in sight in these classrooms.

[Organic Agriculture Conference]

Gyeonggi province, which is bidding to host the ‘17th International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements Organic World Congress(IFOAM OWC)’, invited international specialists from abroad and hosted the International Conference on Organic Agriculture.

The International Conference on Organic Agriculture, sponsored by Gyeonggi province and Dankook University, was held on March 13 at the Dankook University Jukjeon Campus.

About 30 experts, including the chairman of the International Society of Organic Agriculture Research (ISOFAR), attended this conference and announced 37 cases of studies for technical reclamations and certification policies of organic agriculture.

Gyeonggi province, which launched its bid to host the 17th IFOAM OWC, scheduled for 2011, explained their plans to the directors of the IFOAM who attended the conference and asked for their support. IFOAM OWC is an international congress held every three years around the globe. It is a huge event that more than 2000 members of almost 700 organizations from more than one hundred countries attend.

Gyeonggi province had visited the ISOFAR and IFOAM in Germany and officially notified its intentions to hold the congress. If Gyeonggi province gets to hold the OWC, the Olympics of organic agriculture, it will provide a breakthrough for the Agriculture industry, which is having many troubles similar to the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement.

[Public Peace]

Figures from various circles will constitute a council to maintain public peace. Administrative bodies the Gyeonggi province police, and several representatives of the office of education and the press attended the starting ceremony of the ‘Gyeonggi province provincial public peace council,’ and stood out to maintain public peace.

Currently, not many people pay much attention to the law. And even more serious is a widespread distrust of the law. Therefore, the Gyeonggi Province Regional Public Peace counsel discussed the ways to improve public peace, signed an agreement that contains details about establishing stable law enforcement, and assembled these together into a joint declaration.

Pledging to do our best to settle stable law enforcement and to provide a safe and pleasant environment……

Through the start of the Gyeonggi Province Regional Public Peace counsel law enforcement that had seen a decline can be set straight. We can expect to see a culture where developed law and order protects upright citizens.

[Factory in Apartments]

Though on the outside it looks like a regular apartment building, it houses factories. Now more and more companies prefer such facilities.

There are about 90 such apartment style buildings in Gyeonggi province at present, and about 9000 companies, roughly 18% of the total, are operating their factory lines in these facilities.
One company that makes robots and computer components also moved into this kind of factory building and is widening its business circle and showing stable growth.

500 companies are operating in this one factory building. These factories vary from IT to shoes and food processing. The reason why more and more companies are looking for these kinds of factory buildings is due to the trouble relating to large scale factory construction. Moreover, an increased number of venture businesses starting up and various support provided also contributed to these changes.

We are planning to aid moving costs into the apartment-like factories with up to 70% of total costs capped at $500. By the end of next year, it is estimated that about 10,000 companies will move into such factories. Meanwhile, apartment-like factories serve as a counterproposal for those companies who have problems with factory construction.