Ongjin-gun County launches social isolation prevention campaign to identify at-risk households early

Ongjin-gun County (Governor Jang Jeong-min) has launched the ‘2026 Social Isolation Prevention Awareness Campaign’ to identify households at risk of isolation early and provide them with support. The county said on the 27th that it carried out the campaign’s first activity on the 26th by setting up a promotional booth at the Incheon Port Coastal Passenger Terminal, and that it plans to hold another round of outreach at the Ongjin-gun County Volunteers’ Convention in December.

[The Korean Today] Social isolation prevention promotional booth at Incheon Port Coastal Passenger Terminal © Reporter Kim Mi-hee

The campaign has two goals: to inform residents and related organizations about the dangers of social isolation and lonely deaths, and to foster a community atmosphere in which neighbors look out for one another. Administrative bodies alone cannot identify every household in need. The campaign focuses on getting the message across that residents’ attention and reports are the first step toward welfare support.

At the booth, staff distribute guidance materials on preventing lonely deaths along with promotional items. They also explain in concrete terms how to recognize households in crisis and where and how to report them. The aim is to give residents practical steps they can actually follow, so that no one overlooks a neighbor they are worried about simply because they do not know whom to contact.

The choice of the coastal passenger terminal as the first campaign venue was deliberate. Ongjin-gun County is made up of numerous islands, and many residents pass through the terminal when traveling between the mainland and the islands. The county views the attention and reports of close neighbors as especially important in island areas, and plans to strengthen its system for identifying people falling through the cracks of the welfare system through outreach closely tied to residents’ daily lives.

[The Korean Today] Social isolation prevention awareness campaign on site © Reporter Kim Mi-hee

The county is not stopping at awareness efforts but is also attending to support after households are identified. It plans to strengthen cooperation with honorary social welfare officials and the local social security council to connect identified at-risk households with tailored welfare services and wellness check programs. The plan is to link residents’ attention, verification by private-sector cooperation networks and the delivery of administrative services into a single continuous process.

“Social isolation and lonely deaths are not individual problems but challenges that the local community must solve together,” Ongjin-gun County Governor Jang Jeong-min said. “I hope this campaign will spread warm concern for our neighbors, and we will continue to do our utmost to identify and support those in welfare blind spots so that no county resident is left behind.”

The campaign is an attempt to expand the task of finding at-risk households from a purely administrative responsibility to one shared by the entire local community. Its results will depend on how far the outreach translates into actual reports from residents, and how reliably identified households are connected to tailored services and regular wellness checks. The outreach linked to the volunteers’ convention in December is expected to serve as the next checkpoint.

[ Reporter Kim Mi-hee: incheonsouth@thekoreantoday.com ]

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