Uijeongbu City Establishes Integrated Disability Policy System
First Disability Welfare Committee of 2026 Held
Four Key Plans Finalized: Building an Integrated Policy System
Reflecting Complex Welfare Needs Amid Aging Population and Increasing Developmental Disabilities
Pursuing Policies That Make a Tangible Difference in Everyday Life
Uijeongbu City in Gyeonggi Province (Mayor Kim Donggeun) is completely overhauling its disability policy system to keep pace with rapidly changing population structures and complex welfare demands. Rather than simply increasing the number of individual programs, the city’s core initiative is to establish an “integrated welfare system” that connects independence, care, human rights, and family support as one.
According to Uijeongbu City on April 4, the city recently held the “First Disability Welfare Committee of 2026” and deliberated and approved four key plans that encompass all aspects of life for people with disabilities.
Uijeongbu City (Mayor Kim Donggeun) is completely overhauling its disability policy system to keep pace with the rapidly changing population structure and complex welfare demands. The photo shows the ’13th Harmony Climbing Competition’ held in 2025. Provided by Uijeongbu City
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Responding to the Increasing Elderly Disabled Population: Linking Care, Health, and Income Security
Currently, there are approximately 22,360 registered people with disabilities in Uijeongbu City, accounting for 4.8% of the total population. In particular, as the proportion of elderly people with disabilities is increasing rapidly, the city plans to ensure a stable old age by preparing an integrated policy structure that combines medical services, care, and daily living support, instead of the previous fragmented assistance.
As a result, there is a growing demand for complex welfare services such as health management, care, and income security, and the existing policy approach focused on individual programs has reached its limitations in addressing these needs.
In response to these changes, the city will reorganize its policy structure to link care, medical services, and living support, with the aim of establishing a stable foundation for the elderly disabled population.
Uijeongbu City (Mayor Kim Donggeun) is completely overhauling its disability policy system to keep pace with rapid demographic changes and complex welfare demands. The photo shows the 2024 Disability Employment Fair. Provided by Uijeongbu City.
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Expanding Job Opportunities for People with Disabilities: Strengthening the Foundation for Independence
The city has set economic independence for people with disabilities as a key priority and will expand its job creation policies accordingly.
This year, the number of jobs for people with disabilities will be expanded to 141 positions, and approximately 2.2 billion won will be invested to strengthen a sustainable employment foundation in both the public and private sectors.
In addition, by operating seven vocational rehabilitation facilities (with a budget of approximately 4.5 billion won), the city will support independence by providing both job training and improvements to the work environment.
Uijeongbu City (Mayor Kim Dong-geun) is completely reorganizing its disability policy system to keep pace with the rapidly changing population structure and complex welfare demands. The photo shows the monthly meeting of the Disability Subcommittee of the Uijeongbu Community Security Council in 2025. Provided by Uijeongbu City. Photo by Uijeongbu City
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Enhancing Tailored Support for People with Developmental Disabilities: Expanding Care Services
The city is also responding to the increasing care demands resulting from the rise in people with developmental disabilities. Uijeongbu City will establish a support system with a total budget of 63.6 billion won for people with developmental disabilities and will introduce a weekday one-on-one personalized care service (about 300 million won) for those with the most severe developmental disabilities.
Along with this, the city plans to strengthen the foundation for care and independence through â–²supporting developmental rehabilitation service vouchers for 1,064 people (about 2.4 billion won) â–²providing activity support services for 1,705 people with disabilities (about 44.6 billion won), among other initiatives.
The aim is to fill the gaps in the existing care system and alleviate the burden of care that has been concentrated on families.
Uijeongbu City (Mayor Kim Dong-geun) is completely overhauling its disability policy system in response to rapidly changing population dynamics and complex welfare demands. The photo shows a scene from the 2025 Disability Awareness Campaign. Courtesy of Uijeongbu City
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Protecting Human Rights and Eliminating Discrimination: Expanding Support for Daily Living
Disability human rights policies will also be expanded to focus on daily life. The city will allocate a total budget of 28.9 billion won to enhance social security systems such as disability pensions for 2,822 people (about 10.8 billion won), as well as disability allowances. These efforts will be supplemented by initiatives to improve mobility rights, create barrier-free environments, and provide awareness education.
Through these measures, the city aims to enhance policy effectiveness so that the rights of people with disabilities can be realized in their daily lives.
Support for families of people with disabilities will also be promoted as a key policy pillar. The city plans to establish a support system that links care, counseling, education, and rehabilitation services by allocating a total budget of 14.4 billion won for â–²integrated care for people with the most severe developmental disabilities (about 700 million won) â–²developmental rehabilitation service vouchers (about 2.4 billion won) â–²operation of the Family Support Center for People with Disabilities (about 100 million won), among others.
In particular, the city will transition from a structure where families bear the primary responsibility for care to one where the community and public sector share these responsibilities, thereby creating a sustainable welfare environment.
Uijeongbu City (Mayor Kim Donggeun) is undertaking a comprehensive overhaul of its disability policy system to keep pace with rapidly changing population structures and complex welfare demands. The photo shows the disability family program ’20th Stepping Stone Festival 2025′. Provided by Uijeongbu City
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Establishing an Integrated Policy System: Strengthening Support Across the Entire Life Cycle
These four plans are designed as a structure linking independence, care, human rights, and family support, with a focus on minimizing gaps in support throughout the entire life cycle by connecting different policy areas.
The city will strengthen connections between policies so that support continues throughout all stages of life for people with disabilities, and will build a community-based integrated care system to increase the effectiveness of these policies.
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An official from Uijeongbu City stated, “The significance of this plan is that we have realigned our policies to focus on the lives of people with disabilities. Going forward, we will continue to pursue policies that citizens can truly feel, through interconnected measures for independence, care, human rights, and family support.”
This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.
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