Osan City - Life Insurance Social Contribution Foundation MOU Agreement

Osan City and the Life Insurance Social Contribution Foundation announced on the 20th that they have concluded an MOU agreement at the Plaza Hotel in Seoul to sincerely cooperate in the development of infant and toddler childcare and build a world-class childcare center based on mutual trust.

Osan Mayor Kwak Sang-uk, Life Insurance Social Contribution Foundation Chairman Lee Si-hyung, Samsung Life Executive Vice President Kwak Sang-yong, Life Insurance Association Vice Chairman Park Jong-chan, and other executives and officials attended the ceremony. The city will provide the necessary land for the childcare center construction project, and the Life Insurance Social Contribution Foundation will directly build the childcare center and donate it to the city.

Osan City is the youngest city with an average age of 30.7 years and boasts the second-highest birth rate in Gyeonggi Province. After being selected as a "Birth and Childcare Pilot City" by the Gyeonggi Province Governor last year, the city set a goal that expanding public childcare centers is the top priority for creating a childcare environment where both parents and children are happy.

However, building one large-scale facility requires at least 2 billion won or more in costs (construction costs only, excluding land), making it difficult for the city to build on its own given its challenging financial circumstances.

In response, in November of last year, the city learned about a social contribution project pursued by the Life Insurance Social Contribution Foundation (Chairman Lee Si-hyung), in which local governments nationwide can provide land and the foundation will freely build and donate public childcare centers. The city selected Segyo 1 District as a candidate site where the expansion of public facilities is most urgent and applied, ultimately being selected in December of last year, achieving a major milestone.

Following the MOU agreement signing, the city and foundation plan to proceed with the construction of Osan City's largest public childcare center with a capacity of 270 students (gross floor area of 1,157㎡) in Segyo 1 District, with groundbreaking scheduled for May and completion targeted for October of this year.