Dongducheon City to Launch 24-Hour Emergency System During Chuseok Holiday, Ensuring Comprehensive Public Welfare and Safety

Dongducheon City Implements Comprehensive Chuseok Plan

56 Staff Members Deployed Across 8 Task Forces Including Price Stabilization

24-Hour Emergency Room Operations Restored

Local Currency Incentive Raised to 10%

Concentrated Household Waste Collection Scheduled for September 26

Dongducheon City in Gyeonggi Province (Mayor Park Hyungdeok) will implement a comprehensive plan covering daily livelihood, disaster safety, emergency medical care, and transportation for the Chuseok holiday from September 24 to 27—a four-day period. The goal is to prevent any administrative gap during the holiday and minimize inconvenience for citizens and visitors returning home.

Inspection of Price Labeling System During Chuseok Holiday (left) and Hyungdeok Park, Mayor of Dongducheon, Visiting Traditional Market. Provided by Dongducheon City

Dongducheon City will form eight task forces, including teams for autonomous administration and overall coordination, price and fuel stabilization, sanitation, disaster response, transportation, healthcare, and water supply management, deploying a total of 56 staff members. An additional 28 staff members from the city hall's duty office and 4 employees from the Korea Water Resources Corporation will be assigned to maintain 24-hour operations and situation management.

This year’s comprehensive plan focuses on normalizing 24-hour emergency room operations at Dongducheon Jungang Sungmo Hospital, expanding local currency incentives, strengthening hygiene inspections for essential holiday goods and livestock products, improving safety management at multi-use facilities, and implementing special waste collection during the holiday.

To help ease the costs associated with Chuseok shopping, the city raised the recharge incentive for the Dongducheon Sarang Card from the usual 8% to 10% for the entire month of September. Anyone who recharges up to the limit of 700,000 won can receive up to an additional 70,000 won in incentives. The plan aims to encourage use of the local currency and revitalize consumption at traditional markets and neighborhood shops.

The city will also operate a Comprehensive Local Price Countermeasures Control Room until September 27. It will monitor the prices and supply status of 19 popular holiday items such as apples, pears, beef, pork, and croaker, and check compliance with the price display system.

In advance, the city inspected 15 food businesses—including ready-to-eat food manufacturing/processing stores and health functional food retailers—checking for expired products and compliance with hygiene standards. Two items of traditional Korean confectionery (Hangwa) were collected and sent for testing.

For 10 businesses such as meat packaging and livestock product retailers, the city checked storage, transportation, and sales conditions of livestock products, investigated any misrepresentation of origin, and verified traceability labeling. Three samples of livestock products were also collected for laboratory tests. During the holiday, monitoring of fuel supply will continue, and the city will also crack down on excessive packaging of holiday gift sets.

Inspection of traditional market safety status by the Safety Management Advisory Group of Dongducheon City (left) and inspection of traditional market safety status by the Safety Management Advisory Group of Dongducheon City. Provided by Dongducheon City

The safety inspection of multi-use facilities has also been strengthened. The Safety Advisory Group, composed of Dongducheon Fire Station staff and experts in electrical, gas, and fire safety, inspected the fire safety and overall management conditions at four traditional markets (Keun Market, Jungang Market, Jeil Market, and SeA Plaza) and one large supermarket.

The city's disaster and safety control room will operate 24 hours a day during the holiday. Four staff members will each day monitor weather warnings and disaster signs in real time and maintain emergency contacts with relevant agencies such as Gyeonggi Province, Dongducheon Fire Station, Dongducheon Police Station, and Korea Electric Power Corporation. In the event of worsening weather or an unexpected incident, the city will send out disaster safety alerts and conduct emergency response and on-site recovery.

The emergency medical system will also operate normally. Dongducheon Jungang Sungmo Hospital—the city’s only emergency medical institution—had, due to a shortage of medical staff, shortened emergency room hours to 10:00 p.m. as of August. However, with additional medical staff being secured and hospital management participating in night shifts, 24-hour operations resumed on September 8.

During the holiday, 4 to 11 medical clinics and 6 to 12 pharmacies will be open each day. On Chuseok Day (September 25), three regular clinics and six on-duty pharmacies will be operating. For pediatric and adolescent patients, the city will also provide guidance to five night and holiday clinics in nearby Uijeongbu.

Information on open medical institutions and pharmacies can be found on the Dongducheon City website, the emergency medical portal 'E-Gen,' and the Emergency Medical Information app. Assistance is also available via 119, the Gyeonggi Call Center at 120, the Health and Welfare Counseling Center at 129, and the Dongducheon City Health Center Emergency Medical Situation Room.

Scenes from the Emergency Medical Council meeting held in preparation for the Chuseok holiday (left) and the 24-hour operation of the Emergency Room at Dongducheon Jungang St. Mary’s Hospital. Provided by Dongducheon City

Household waste will only be collected once during the four-day holiday, specifically on September 26. No collection of general waste, food waste, recyclables, or large bulk waste will take place on September 24, 25, or 27. Residents must dispose of their waste at designated locations between 7:00 p.m. on September 25 and 6:00 a.m. on September 26.

The city will operate a complaint desk for household waste, and sanitation workers and temporary cleaning staff will be deployed to clean major roadsides. On September 26, the city will mobilize workforce and equipment from contracted waste collection companies to handle accumulated waste.

The Transportation Administration Division will establish a special transportation control room. It will monitor transportation demand at subway stations and major bus stops, and deploy reserve city buses if passenger numbers surge.

Special management will be implemented at 13 public restrooms—located at 6 transportation facilities including subway stations, 2 areas dense with commercial buildings, and 5 amusement or tourist sites. The city will inspect hygiene, adequacy of facilities, installation of illegal surveillance cameras, the operational status of emergency bells and warning lights, and arrangements for people with disabilities.

A special Hometown Love Donation Event will also be held for former residents. Until September 22, those who donate 100,000 won or more to Dongducheon City through the Hometown Love e-Eum platform or at any NH Nonghyup branch nationwide and order a reward gift will be automatically entered into a prize draw. The city will select 100 winners to receive a 20,000 won Dongducheon Sarang Card gift voucher.

Chuseok Hometown Love Donation Event. Provided by Dongducheon City

Mayor Park Hyungdeok stated, "We have thoroughly checked all aspects of daily life for citizens, from holiday shopping and disaster safety to medical care, waste collection, and transportation. We will leave no gaps in inspections or emergency responses during the holiday, so that both citizens and visitors can enjoy a safe and bountiful Chuseok."

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