The Ministry of the Interior and Safety said on the 25th that it signed a "win-win business agreement for responding to local extinction" with Kia at Government Complex Seoul.
This agreement was prepared to find solutions to pressing regional issues such as local extinction through collaboration between the Ministry of the Interior and Safety (MOIS) and Kia. In population-declining areas, residents face a vicious cycle in which quality of life falls due to a lack of essential living infrastructure, leading to an outflow of population.
Accordingly, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety (MOIS) and Kia will promote win-win collaboration. As part of that, they selected the "food sector," which is closely tied to residents' daily lives, as a priority task and agreed to jointly push a fresh food delivery project to resolve food deserts. Food desert refers to a phenomenon in which access to fresh food retailers is difficult due to inadequate transportation infrastructure, economic hardship, and other factors.
The fresh food delivery project will first be implemented in six townships designated as the first-phase targets: Anpyeong-myeon, Sagok-myeon, Gucheon-myeon, Sinpyeong-myeon, Chunsan-myeon, and Ansa-myeon in Uiseong County, North Gyeongsang. The plan is to deliver and sell fresh foods such as meat and seafood to older residents in these areas.
The Ministry of the Interior and Safety (MOIS) will select one additional basic local government through a call for applications for second-phase target areas in the first half of this year.
Kia will provide PV5 vehicles for the project. It will also contract with local grocery stores to procure fresh foods and manage the overall fresh food delivery in population-declining areas by operating a management system that includes a landline call center. Green Umbrella (NGO), Kia's partner in social contribution, and local social and solidarity economy organizations will operate the fresh food delivery. In addition, they plan to link in-home care services to ease social isolation among older residents and check their health conditions.
The Ministry of the Interior and Safety (MOIS) will serve as a bridge to ensure smooth collaboration between the target cities and counties and corporations for the fresh food delivery project. It will provide financial support for building the delivery infrastructure in cities and counties and for operating linked projects.
Yoon Ho-jung, Minister of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety (MOIS), said, "We will play a policy priming role so that corporations' social contribution activities can lead to tangible changes in the field," adding, "We will invigorate social and solidarity economy organizations in the regions to build a virtuous cycle of balanced development and regional vitality."