Geumcheon District to Designate 98 CU Stores as "Life-Loving Stores"

Business Agreement with BGF Retail for Suicide Prevention

Early Identification of High-Risk Groups and Promotion of Mental Health for Residents

In Geumcheon District, Seoul (headed by District Mayor Choi Ki-chan), a total of 98 CU convenience stores will be designated as “Life-Loving Stores” to promote suicide prevention and support residents’ mental health. On the morning of August 26, Geumcheon District announced that it had signed a business agreement with convenience store franchise BGF Retail at the district office’s Planning Control Room to establish a suicide prevention and life-loving safety net.

Geumcheon-gu and BGF Retail's Memorandum of Understanding on Suicide Prevention and Life-Loving Safety Net Construction. Provided by Geumcheon-gu.

This agreement aims to utilize convenience stores—places with frequent resident interaction—to identify high-risk individuals for suicide at an early stage and to build a community-based safety net for suicide prevention. It is also in line with the government’s Fifth Basic Plan for Suicide Prevention, which emphasizes the development of “region-specific suicide prevention systems.”

Stores designated as “Life-Loving Stores” will display the corresponding plaque sticker. Inside these stores, promotional stickers containing messages related to mental health will be posted, and single-use wooden chopsticks featuring the phrase “CU Mind-Love” will also be made available.

To encourage residents to naturally take interest in their mental well-being, the district will promote self-assessment for mental health using QR codes. Participants in these self-assessments will have a chance to win CU gift certificates through a drawing, encouraging voluntary participation. Following the agreement, Geumcheon District plans to create promotional spaces inside convenience stores in September and actively launch the “Life-Loving Store” initiative to the community.

District Mayor Choi Ki-chan said, “Convenience stores located throughout our neighborhoods, in partnership with BGF Retail, can serve as spaces to care for residents’ mental health and protect lives. Going forward, we will further expand collaborations with the private sector to build a dense community safety net for suicide prevention.”

Meanwhile, the “Life-Loving Store” project is the second public-private partnership initiative in Geumcheon District, following “Our Neighborhood Mind Laundry.” The district plans to further strengthen the suicide prevention safety net by expanding collaboration with businesses closely connected to residents’ daily lives.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.