Interior ministry opens policy briefing in Gangwon for 30 foreign diplomats

The interior ministry said Thursday it had brought about 30 ambassadors, foreign correspondents and working-level diplomats to Gangwon Province for a two-day briefing on Korean administrative policy.

The event, held from Thursday to Friday in Wonju, Hoengseong, Hongcheon and Chuncheon, has been run for foreign diplomatic missions in Korea since 2018. This year the ministry widened the program from its earlier focus on disaster and safety to its major policies as a whole, and the main session took place at the National Forensic Service in Wonju, where officials presented AI-based administrative and public service innovations, efforts to promote the social and solidarity economy, the citizen safety insurance scheme, the Central Joint Disaster Victim Support Center and forensic techniques for responding to digital crime.

Officials used the session to explain how the citizen safety insurance program extends support to foreign nationals harmed in disasters, and how the support center consolidates disaster victim assistance into a single channel.

Attendees then toured National Forensic Service facilities handling digital forensics and safety accident work, joined by the Wonju mayor and the service's director. The delegation also visited the Haedari village solar pension cooperative in Hoengseong County, where 65 households plan to build a 1,000-kilowatt solar power project. The county governor attended that visit.

"This briefing is a place to share the diverse experiences of Korean public administration with the international community," Vice Interior Minister Kim Min-jae said. "I hope that by examining the field sites together, beyond merely explaining policies, it becomes an occasion for each country to learn from one another's experience and to lead to practical policy cooperation."