Gyeonggi Province Launches Comprehensive Lunar New Year Holiday Measures for 2025

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Kim Gap-dong] Gyeonggi Province announced on the 21st that it is implementing a "comprehensive Lunar New Year holiday plan" to enable residents to enjoy a joyful and safe holiday. The province plans to operate a comprehensive situation room from the 25th to the 30th when the holiday begins, and establish an emergency duty system to minimize inconvenience to residents.

Various inquiries and inconveniences that occur during the holiday period can be addressed by calling the Gyeonggi Province call center (031-120).

The province's 2025 Lunar New Year holiday comprehensive plan consists of four major areas: livelihood recovery, safety and health, welfare and culture, and transportation and convenience. The main details are as follows.

■ Livelihood Recovery

A price stabilization task force will be operated to stabilize prices of holiday necessities. The price stabilization task force, composed of seven departments of Gyeonggi Province and three teams including an agricultural, livestock, and fishery products team and a sanitation inspection team, will cooperate with 31 cities and counties to conduct price surveys on holiday necessities and inspect compliance with price and origin labeling. Intensive checks will be conducted on illegal commercial practices such as excessive rate increases and violations of measurement standards, and local economic revitalization will be promoted by promoting the use of traditional markets and businesses with fair pricing.

To help small business owners in the region overcome difficulties amid the ongoing economic downturn and stimulate consumption, incentives and limits for purchasing Gyeonggi local currency will be increased. Until the end of January, purchases can receive 10-25% discounts and purchase Gyeonggi local currency up to a maximum of 1 million won, with incentives and purchase limits varying by city and county.

Support for management stabilization of small and medium enterprises and small business owners includes the "Small Business Fighters Card" and "Debt Repayment Extension Special Guarantee" for small business owners with mid to low credit ratings, and "Small Business Loan Replacement Guarantee" providing up to 100 million won per business with five-year interest support. The Fighters Card, Korea's first operating expense-dedicated card for small business owners, provides up to 500,000 won per business with no annual fees or guarantee fees, maximum 500,000 won in cashback, and maximum six months of interest-free periods.

Meanwhile, 20-30% discounts are provided when purchasing Gyeonggi Province agricultural, livestock, fishery products, flowers, and agricultural food products online and offline. Within a maximum limit of 20,000 won per person per day, price discounts are available at local food direct stores, eco-friendly stores, and Market Gyeonggi, while regional currency cashback is available at large and mid-size marts.

Online Market Gyeonggi will provide 20% discount coupons for 395 products including Gyeonggi rice, meat, eggs, and processed gift sets from the 10th to the 31st.

■ Safety and Health

To ensure seamless safety medical services, the province and 31 cities and counties will establish an emergency response system and operate a special emergency response week. Through assignment of 1-on-1 responsible officials, 74 emergency medical facilities will be intensively managed, and the number of open hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, and other medical facilities will be expanded from 207 last Lunar New Year to 306 this year.

Gyeonggi Province emergency medical situation room will also be operated at all times. Through operation of a total of 50 situation rooms at Gyeonggi Province and city and county health centers until February 2nd, the plan is to provide guidance on emergency medical inquiries and respond immediately when large-scale patient cases occur.

Information on open medical facilities during the holiday period can be found through the call center (120, 129), 119 emergency dispatch center phone, Gyeonggi Province official SNS, Gtv, the emergency medical portal (E-GEN), and the emergency medical information app.

Additionally, to strengthen fire prevention and disaster response capabilities, 8,317 fire-vulnerable facilities will be inspected and educated, and a 24-hour disaster situation room will be operated.

■ Welfare and Culture

To ensure safety management of vulnerable populations in preparation for cold waves, heating expenses will be urgently supported for approximately 310,000 households of basic livelihood security recipients and lower-income households, and counseling will be provided to households in crisis welfare blind spots. The emergency welfare hotlines operating during the Lunar New Year period are 010-4419-7722, 031-120, the website, and the Gyeonggi Bokil KakaoTalk channel—four channels in total.

Meals will be provided to 768 homeless individuals requiring care through public and private dining facilities, and relief supplies including water, hand warmers, and food will be distributed to street homeless. Pre-inspections of households will be conducted for approximately 90,000 vulnerable elderly and approximately 64,000 vulnerable disabled individuals, and safety checks will be conducted through phone calls and IoT equipment before and after the holiday. Support of approximately 170 million won will be provided to 700 social welfare facilities where elderly, children, and disabled individuals live in the province.

Youth shelters and the Youth Call 1388 will operate 24 hours so that any youth requiring counseling, including out-of-home youth, can receive protection. Additionally, food and other provisions will be provided to children needing support due to concerns about missing meals during the Lunar New Year holiday and self-reliant youth living alone.

Free tourist attractions fully open during the holiday period include Suwon Hwaseong Fortress in Suwon, Haengju Mountain Fortress in Goyang, Rail Park in Uiwang, Sanjeong Lake in Pocheon, and Jara Island in Gapyeong. The province will open 44 accessible tourism sites in 23 cities and counties for vulnerable tourism groups such as disabled individuals, and will support admission fees so that seniors aged 70 and over and disabled individuals can purchase professional sports team tickets for 1,000 won. Opportunity sports viewing tickets can be purchased on-site by bringing identification and disability registration certificates or through each team's website.

Professional sports games held during the Lunar New Year holiday include men's basketball on the 28th in Goyang (Goyang Sono vs. Anyang Jung Kwan Jang) and women's volleyball on the 29th in Suwon (Hyundai E&C vs. GS Caltex).

Fourteen public museums and art galleries in eight cities and counties including Nam June Paik Art Center in Yongin, Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art in Ansan, and Jungok Prehistory Museum in Yeoncheon will operate permanent and special exhibition programs. A total of 15 exhibitions can be viewed free during the Lunar New Year holiday period except on the holiday itself.

■ Transportation and Convenience

A special transportation measures situation room will be operated for 10 days from January 24th to February 2nd to comprehensively understand traffic conditions and provide road congestion information. Additionally, intercity and express buses will be operated flexibly according to resident demand during the holiday, and convenience-focused traffic measures will be implemented by extending the last operating times of city buses and village buses. Currently, plans are underway to add 88 additional buses across 44 routes in five regions including the Seoul metropolitan area, Gangwon, Chungcheong, Jeolla, and Yeongnam regions, with an increase of 138 intercity bus runs.

Various traffic information can be obtained by calling 1688-9090 or 1688-8031 for bus information, or by checking the Gyeonggi Traffic Information Center website (gits.gg.go.kr) or mobile app (Gyeonggi Traffic Information).

The province will operate the 120 Gyeonggi Province call center 24 hours a day and is committed to immediately responding to residents' inconveniences such as traffic information for homeward journeys, emergency medical information, and general civil complaints.