By Do Je-hae
Staff Reporter
South Gyeongsang Province and the two major cities, Busan and Ulsan, are introducing a series of projects to improve the lives of citizens ahead of New Year.
In particular, the province plans to offer more government jobs to migrant women through internship programs at support centers for multicultural families, according to local officials Sunday. These centers are run by the provincial, city and county governments.
Starting in February, the provincial government and 11 multicultural centers in the region will start recruiting foreign women married to Koreans for positions in counseling, interpretation and Korean language classes.
It is the only province in the country to take the initiative in expanding such employment opportunities at the government level. "We will spend 900 million won on initiatives for multicultural families," an official said.
The recruitments are expected to be announced on the provincial Web site at http://www.gsnd.net/ or http://english.gsnd.net/. The Web site is also available in Japanese and Chinese. The internship program is part of the province's efforts to support migrant workers and their families in the region.
The province is home to the largest number of multicultural families in Korea after Gyeonggi Province, Seoul and Incheon.
The province also will run alternative multicultural counseling services in remote, rural communities where there are no support centers.
In May, counselors, translators and medical aid will be sent to these areas to help resolve whatever problems they might have encountered in Korea.
On another matter, Busan will place top priority on projects to increase the birthrate, starting next year. The city government will start raising funds over the next 10 years to support college education for families' third child.
The infrastructure in the region is also receiving a boost. From late next year, the southern industrial city of Ulsan will be only two hours away from Seoul via the new KTX high-speed train service. For the first time, trains on the Gyeongbu KTX line will make a stop at Ulsan station starting from next December.
Authorities estimate around 10,100 people will use the service daily.
jhdo@koreatimes.co.kr
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