Kim Dong-min, Bupyeong District Councillor: “Children's Participation Must Lead to Actual Policy Reflection Beyond Simple Activities”

Kim Dong-min, a member of the Bupyeong District Council (Democratic Party, Bupyeong 2·5·6, Bugae 1, Ilshin-dong), belonging to the Administrative Welfare Committee, called for the establishment of a detailed support system to enhance the effectiveness of children's policy participation and to ensure the stable integration of disabled individuals into the community after leaving facilities.

During the 5th Administrative Welfare Committee meeting of the 274th extraordinary session held on the 3rd, Councillor Kim pointed out various issues concerning the district administration, targeting the Child Welfare Department and the Elderly and Disabled Department.

In his inquiry to the Child Welfare Department, Councillor Kim emphasised the need to invigorate the operation of the ‘Children's Participation Committee’. He stated, “It is encouraging that the number of committee members is steadily increasing and the desire for children to serve consecutive terms is high,” but also pointed out, “We should refer to cases where other local governments, such as Seo-gu in Incheon, have received higher-level certification as a UNICEF Child-Friendly City, and our district must create more tangible results where children's voices are adopted into actual policies.”

In particular, Councillor Kim presented the ‘Happy School’ policy of Seo-gu in Gwangju Metropolitan City as a benchmarking case, stating, “Certification as a Child-Friendly City is not the end but the beginning. Please actively implement policies so that children's ideas can change the future of Bupyeong District.”

He further praised Bupyeong District's outstanding achievements in ‘Support for the Independence of the Disabled’ during his inquiry to the Elderly and Disabled Department. Councillor Kim encouraged, “The fact that more than half of the individuals achieving independence in Incheon City are from Bupyeong District is thanks to the dedicated efforts of field officials and the independence support centre.”

He continued, “Leaving facilities is not the end; the key task is to ‘settle’ healthily in the community. As the survey results show that the biggest difficulty faced by disabled individuals is economic issues, we must focus on establishing economic support measures that enable them to achieve independence within the community, along with step-by-step housing support.”

In response, the head of the Elderly and Disabled Department stated, “We are activating a unique network for the disabled in Bupyeong District and conducting quarterly case meetings,” and added, “Based on the independence achievement casebook published this year, we will do our best to ensure that disabled individuals who leave facilities can live healthily alongside non-disabled individuals.”