By Kim Rahn
Seoul City’s 120 Dasan Call Center counselors will not only receive calls but also phone foreign residents here regularly to help them with daily living difficulties and offer information.
The city said Tuesday that it will start the “Happy Call Service for Foreigners” this month, with the service available in five languages — English, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese and Mongolian.
The main customers are likely to be foreign spouses in multicultural families and migrant workers. Counselors will call them once or twice a week to ask after them, resolve their problems, and provide information on everyday life and events in Seoul and their area.
The call center has already started receiving applications for the service through foreign communities, with 279 people applying as of March.
Applications are also available through the center, its website 120.seoul.go.kr, or migrant worker or multicultural family support centers.
“Many foreigners don’t receive proper information related to their life, such as revised nationality laws and the city’s nursery schools for children from multicultural families. We’ll not wait for them to call us, but will call them first to provide such information, actively offering services,” a city official said.
For issues requiring more detailed consultation, the staff will connect the foreigners to experts at local migrant workers’ centers or multicultural family support centers.