On June 19th 2018, DRD and 9 representatives from DOLISA, DOC and DOT of Tay Ninh and Binh Dinh Province who had a meeting with 9 organizations related to PWDs in Korea. The program belongs to project “Access For All” funded by USAID.
At the meeting, we were informed about the disability movement, laws and policies that the state provides for PWDs in Korea, including some noteworthy points.
Accordingly, every year the government spends a mandatory budget to carry out activities to support PWDs, which are funded by Ministry of Health and Welfare. Yang Won Tae – President of the Able Forum said there are 125 independent living centers across the country and many are active in law enforcement and government law.
Regarding accessibility issues for PWDs, the state has enacted laws that oblige state agencies and public works to have access categories for PWDs. Oh Chang Seok - General Manager of Department of Policy Monitoring said that all works that require construction permission must prove that the design is suitable for PWDs and that it is inspected by the agency. For newly completed works, they must pass the standard accessibility test for PWDs to be accepted and put into use. The law stipulates that private works when changing the purpose of use must also ensure that PWDs can use new ones.
From May 5th 2018, the government added a law that obliged civil servants, employees of government agencies, corporates, associations and students to participate in the course “Awareness raising about disability”.
Thanh Tùng
