Seoul Learn Expands to Chungju... Oh Sehoon: "May Our Educational Partnership Be a Strong Support"

Seoul City and Chungju Sign Agreement to Bridge Educational Gaps
Sharing Seoul Learn Platform and Know-how... Launch of 'Chungju Learn'
Mayor Oh Discusses Sales Expansion with Young Farmers

Seoul City's educational ladder project, 'Seoul Learn', is now extending to Chungju. Seoul Learn is a free online learning platform operated by Seoul City, providing online lectures, one-on-one mentoring, and career and admissions programs, aiming to reduce educational disparities.

On September 29, Seoul City signed a 'business agreement for reducing private education expenses and bridging the education gap' with Chungju City. Through this agreement, Seoul City will share its platform and operational experience to support the introduction of 'Chungju Learn'.

Oh Sehoon, Mayor of Seoul, who attended the signing ceremony, will give a special lecture under the new municipal slogan, 'Seoul, the Special City for Quality of Life.' He plans to introduce to Chungju citizens Seoul's policies for caring for citizens’ physical and mental well-being and enriching their daily lives with leisure, sharing the experience of expanding learning opportunities through Seoul Learn.

Seoul City will share the Seoul Learn platform and operational know-how with Chungju and support the stable implementation of Chungju Learn. Based on this, Chungju City plans to initially provide online learning content to 250 underprivileged high school students in its jurisdiction starting in the second half of 2027, with a plan to gradually expand the beneficiaries.

The effectiveness of Seoul Learn has been proven. Over the past five years, around 44,000 students have used the platform. In the 2026 college entrance examination, a record 914 Seoul Learn users were admitted to universities. Additionally, a 2025 Seoul City survey found that 61.3% of Seoul Learn user households reported a reduction in private education expenses, with the average monthly saving reaching 340,000 won.

Seoul City previously entered into agreements to expand the Seoul Learn model with North Chungcheong Province (December 2024), Pyeongchang County (December 2024), Gimpo City (February 2025), Incheon Metropolitan City (April 2025), Taebaek City (July 2025), Yecheon County (September 2025), and Yeongam County (March 2026). Currently, about 3,100 local students are using online learning content and educational support services.

In his lecture, Mayor Oh is expected to emphasize that, beyond a city's physical growth or economic performance, enhancing the happiness and quality of life for every single citizen is the essential role of government today. He will also introduce the vision of 'administration that designs citizens' happiness,' which Seoul City will pursue in the ninth popularly elected term. In addition, he will highlight 'creative administration' as the driving force enabling citizen-experience-oriented policies, sharing with Chungju officials Seoul's organizational culture and on-the-ground ideas that have led to policy innovation—focusing on redefining problems from the citizens' perspective and finding new solutions, rather than simply following existing practices and regulations.

Meanwhile, before the agreement, Mayor Oh visited a farm operated by a young farmer in Chungju, toured the cultivation site of Chungju's specialty, 'Tangeumhyang', and discussed mutually beneficial cooperation measures with young farmers, such as expanding sales channels in Seoul. Tangeumhyang is a mandarin variety first successfully cultivated in the central-northern region as an alternative crop to address climate change, introduced by Chungju City. Mayor Oh listened to young farmers discussing the difficulties in agricultural production and expansion of distribution channels; then, in the subsequent meeting, he exchanged views on ways for both cities to jointly promote sales, marketing, and product development for agricultural products from Chungju in Seoul.

Seoul City plans to continue win-win cooperation by practically linking Seoul’s consumer market and Chungju’s agricultural resources, beginning with actual collaboration on agricultural product sales and channel expansion. Mayor Oh stated, "Seoul Learn is Seoul's educational ladder project, launched from the belief that children’s opportunities to learn and grow should not differ depending on a family's financial circumstances or where they live. I hope that this expansion of educational partnership from Seoul to Chungju will provide even more students with strong support as they pursue their dreams."

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