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. 2nd Disaster Basic Income Payment of KRW 100,000 Per Gyeonggi Resident (0120-1) Gyeonggi Province recently announced plans to make a second round of disaster basic income payments of KRW 100,000 to each provincial resident so as to ease economic difficulties during the COVID-19 pandemic. Unlike the first round of payments made last year, an expanded range of foreigners and Koreans with foreign nationalities will also receive payments this time with the number of recipients totaling approximately 14 million. The payment period will be determined through consideration of pandemic and quarantine circumstances as advised by the Democratic Party. ◇ Child Protection Zone Management in Gyeonggi Needs Improvement (0121-1) Amid growing social concern with the road safety of children following the revision of the Road Traffic Act Enforcement Ordinance in March last year, Gyeonggi Province investigated the management of child protection zone facilities and discovered that 73.9 percent need improvement. The province also identified the failure to levy up to KRW 3.4 billion in fines for illegal parking in child protection zones. ► Gwon Sun-sin (권순신), Director, Gyeonggi Province Audit Division “From the results of audits of cities and counties, we found that local governments that do not manage facilities or levy illegal parking files properly in child protection zones are also those that see higher accident rates within such zones.” ◇   Gyeonggi Builds Street Cat Feeding Stations Around Buddhist Temple in Pocheon (0119-1) A Buddhist temple in Pocheon (포천) City of Gyeonggi Province has been experiencing difficulties due to the growing number of street cats for which it has been caring. To help resolve this issue in cooperation with local residents, Gyeonggi Province has set up three street cat feeding stations around the temple so as to supply clean water and food to the cats. ► Hyemyeong, Gwaneum Temple Monk “The situation has improved significantly. The cats look more relaxed, and their crying and other activities have also decreased.” ◇ Pet Adoption Center Opens in Central Suwon (0119-1) A ‘Gyeonggi Pet Adoption Center’, which will serve as a hub for the culture of adopting abandoned animals, has opened and embarked on full-scale operations in Suwon (수원) City. This center will provide free adoption services for abandoned animals and operate various educational programs to promote an appropriate pet culture. ► Lee Ye-jun, Park Seo-yeon, Lee Sae-rom / Visitors from Anseong “Operations like puppy factories are not good. I hope that this center will help eradicate such things.” “Hi there! Nice to meet you. Let’s be happy together!” ◇ Gyeonggi to Launch Labor Law Education Program for Workers and Management (0118-3) This year, Gyeonggi Province plans to launch a labor law education program for workers and management in the province. Provided to vulnerable workers and small business operators in a contactless format, this program aims to promote an understanding of worker value while also ensuring that workers are accorded their rights and receive fair compensation. Through this program, the province seeks to reduce the number of disputes between workers and management, which may arise due to ignorance about related laws, and to help establish sound labor-management relations. ◇   ‘Gyeonggi Youth Military Accident Insurance’ Coverage Expanded This Year (0120-3) This year, Gyeonggi Province will continue its Gyeonggi Youth Military Accident Insurance Support Program, which the province introduced for the first time among area-wide autonomies of Korea in 2018. From this year, insurance payments for surgeries due to injuries or diseases suffered during military service will be increased from the current KRW 50,000 to KRW 200,000 per case. In addition, insurance payments of up to KRW 20 million will be made for injuries, post-injury disorders, or deaths caused by explosions, fires or structural failures. Insurance claims can be made via the dedicated call center. ◇ Gyeonggi Develops Mobile Civil Defense Corps Training Call-up System (0119-2) Gyeonggi Province has developed a mobile civil defense corps training call-up system. Members of the civil defense corps can now receive annual training notices via mobile phones. This means that administration costs of approximately KRW 3 billion for the notification of more than 930,000 recipients via registered mail will be saved each year. This new system will also benefit recipients through the quick and accurate delivery of notices. After the training of related officials, the province plans to begin the operation of the system from March. ◇ Thank you for joining us for this week’s edition of GTV. We look forward to seeing you again next week.