Chungcheongnam-do

▲ Employees of Chungnam Multilingual Support Center

The Chungnam Multilingual Support Center for Foreign Residents was recently opened to assist foreign residents with their settlement in Chuncheongnam-do and their communication needs.

On May 16, around 100 guests including Provincial Governor Ahn Hee-jung, Cheonan Mayor Koo Bon-young, President Jung Jung-hee of the Culture & Welfare Committee of the provincial assembly,

Ambassador LONG DIMANCHE of the Cambodian Embassy in Korea, and a group of foreign residents participated in the opening ceremony of the call center.
 
The opening ceremony proceeded with a progress report, followed by words of encouragement, a congratulatory message, and a signboard unveiling ceremony.

The call center was established in Cheonan-si, Dongnam-gu after being selected as the main project by the immigrant community integrated TF, and has been operated since last year.

The Cheonan Multicultural Family Support Center is responsible for operating the center, which is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays. It offers counselling on everyday life and difficulties to foreign workers, marriage immigrants, naturalized citizens, the children of foreign residents, compatriot with foreign nationality, and foreign students, etc.

The center also provides an interpretation service to support the communication needs of foreign residents, and information on diverse matters including legal affairs, real estate, communication, finance and investment.

The call center provides its services in fifteen languages including English, Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, Khmer (Cambodian) and Tetum (East Timor), with eight languages being fully supported and seven partially supported.

The call center has eight staff members, including six professional counsellors for each language.
A member of the provincial government commented, "This call center is expected to not only help foreign residents to settle and adapt to life in the province, but also to assist social integration."

Meanwhile, the total number of foreign residents in the province stood at 88,189 in November 2015, with Cheonan leading the way at 26,194, followed by Asan with 20,038, Dangjin with 7,936, Seosan with 5,984, and Nonsan with 5,381.