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Korea news

The Seoul Metropolitan Government will take heed to foreign residents’ difficulties




- A Seoul Town Meeting on Tuesday, May 10th with about 100 residents from Thailand (Thailand Ambassador to Korea as well as the community) at the Seoul Global Center

– Mayor Won-soon Park will listen directly to the difficulties and opinions of foreign residents from Thailand and reflect them on policy making

– The 26th Seoul Town Meeting since 2000, it serves as a channel to communicate with foreign residents

– First come, first served registration to join via email (waytogo5@seoul.go.kr) and via the Seoul Global website starting Monday, April 25.



The Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) will hold a “Seoul Town Meeting” where Mayor Won-soon Park and foreign residents from Thailand will participate in the Global Conference Room on the 9th floor of the Seoul Global Center at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, May 10th.


This Seoul Town Meeting will serve as a forum to come up with tasks and directions on how to make Seoul ‘A city more favorable towards foreign residents’ by listening to the daily life experiences of foreign residents from Thailand. Thailand and Seoul have a close relationship through various cultural exchanges and friendship programs, such as the ‘Global Sharing Event’ or ‘Chenggyecheon Festival’.


As of January 1st, about 457,000 foreign residents dwell in Seoul, and approximately 1,500 of them are Thai.


Thai people are usually workers and foreign brides, and do not only live in Seoul, but also in highly industrial areas of Gyeonggi, such as Hwaseong or Pocheon.


Among professional life, labor, and human rights consultations given to Thai residents at the Seoul Global Center, employment, insurance, and salary-related labor issues took up the largest share, which means that Thai employees are suffering from harsh working environments.


The Seoul Town Meeting will be a place where such difficulties can be heard and reflected in policies, and where practical support will be provided, through Thai residents sharing a variety of information, and moreover, by having an opportunity to form a global community in Seoul.


The title of the meeting is ‘Hearing the difficulties and forming policy suggestions for foreign residents from Thailand who live in Seoul’ and will start with a report on the status of foreign residents from Thailand, and then move on to a free discussion, and will end with a wrap-up speech by the Seoul Mayor.


The meeting will be aired real-time via Live Seoul (tv.seoul.go.kr), and foreign residents who want to participate can contact the Seoul Global Center phone number (Korean: 2075-4107, Thai: 2075-4142) or apply via email (waytogo5@seoul.go.kr) and on the Seoul Global website (http://global.seoul.go.kr). The application will be on a first come, first served basis, starting Monday, April 25th.


Meanwhile, Seoul Town Meetings, which began in 2000 and will hold its 26th meeting, has been a practical communication channel where challenges that foreign residents face have been heard.


Major policies which reflect the content of the Seoul Town Meetings include a capacity-building project to support Korean-Chinese, a meeting place for foreign-resident communities, and a foreign-resident Seoul correspondent project.


“Through the coming Seoul Town Meeting, we plan to listen to the challenges and difficulties facing foreign residents from Thailand who live in Seoul. We will also gather ideas about how to develop more effective policies for Seoul. In the future, we hope that the town meetings with foreign residents will contribute to creating a more global Seoul, where global citizens can lead their lives more happily,” said Gyusook Uhm, the Director of the Women and Family Policy Department of the Seoul Metropolitan Government.