Hello, this is Park Sang-gu, the head of the public relations team in charge of the urgent press conference related to the relocation of Dangjin Sungbo Hospital. Despite your busy schedules, I sincerely thank all the press members for attending today's press conference. Today's event will proceed with Mayor Oh Sang-hwan explaining the progress and follow-up measures regarding the construction period of Dangjin Sangmu Hospital, followed by a dialogue with the press. Now, in order to create a vibrant future together, Mayor Oh Sang-hwan, who is actively carrying out administrative work, will deliver a greeting and briefing. Yes, I will be conducting the press conference regarding the relocation of Sungmo Hospital. First of all, Sangmu Hospital should have been doing well, but the relocation did not go smoothly, so as the mayor, I express my regret about this. I will explain the progress we have made. Have we distributed the handouts one by one?

If you look at it, the relocation of Seongmo Hospital started in 2019. In 2019, Seongmo Hospital secured the land in Sujeong 2-dong. They requested to move to that area, and the request was accepted by the hospital. In July 2020, a business agreement was made. In December 2022, a sales contract for the hospital site was signed between Dangjin City, the Catholic Diocese, and Seongmo Hospital. Also, regarding the compensation, 5 billion KRW was completed and paid to Seongmo Hospital. However, there are rumors spreading that things are not going well. So, on February 15, 2024, I met with Kim Jung-soo, the head of Daejeon Diocese, and had a conversation with him for about an hour. After hearing from the head of the diocese, it seems that they have now given up on the relocation. Initially, they were not aware of the details, but after looking into it closely, it amounts to 100 billion KRW.

They said that they own about 1 trillion won. They were talking about the accounting rules of the Catholic Church, so they don't set up funds or budgets, but they allocate the budget for that year and spend it all in that year. So, in order to secure this 1 trillion won, they need to issue debt from the banking sector. This means that they don't hold funds or anything like that in Catholicism, because they set up a budget for the year and spend it in the same year. Therefore, in order to secure this 1 trillion won, they have to borrow debts from the banking sector and proceed. They said it is quite difficult. However, because it was something that they applied for in the Catholic spirit, they cannot give up on it. This is what they said. Since the Virgin Mary Hospital was originally established here by the Catholic spirit, they cannot break the promise of the donation.

This is it. When it comes to guarding, they don't have the money, so the previous work of St. Mary's Hospital was also under the Catholic committee. The bishop and the diocese talk about this. These are not decisions made alone. There is a committee. They follow the decisions from there. It's not up to them. That's it. So, if it's around 10 billion, they can take responsibility. Around 100 billion. But this involves 1 trillion, so yes, it's not an estimate. Because it involves 1 trillion, he absolutely cannot make the decision alone. So, he has to follow the decision of the committee. They said things like this. So the conclusion is that the bishop will inform in a way like option 1 or option 2. That's what they said. So, let's meet with the reporter. The conclusion is that the Catholic Jeon Diocese will invite experts to the committee, analyze it on the PC, and make an accurate decision in options like 1, 2, 3 for the city of Dangjin.

I promised to inform you and ended it like this, but after that, it didn't come, it didn't come, and now, in the process of dialogue with the health department and the hospital, it was difficult, and only such words continued to come out. So, we couldn't drag it on forever, until when would this go on? It's been 26 years, until June next year. Until June next year, that's the timeframe. Therefore, although legally we have to wait until June next year to move the hospital, we need to make a decision quickly, so we kept urging. We urged them, but this year, from May to June, the hospital director expressed the position that relocation is impossible. So, in June, they officially stated their position on relocation, and we sent an official letter. We sent it directly from Seoul to Daejeon, because Bishop Kim Jung-soo arranged it for me to inform me.

I requested for confirmation but since there was no response, I am now asking whether I should directly inform Daejeon Diocese of our official stance or not. I made this request in June. On July 11th, a reply came from Daejeon Diocese regarding the construction of the hospital, stating that the hospital construction is not feasible. Therefore, on July 16th, we sent a notice of contract termination to Daejeon Diocese. After sending the notice of contract termination, we also informed them about the compensation for the land and the immediate payment for the unfair profits and damages due to the contract breach. We notified the Daejeon Diocese about this, and as a result, a total of 59.68 million won was deposited in response to the notice. So, in fact, I would like to express my regret that the construction of Seongmu Hospital has to be canceled, and I apologize for this.

[APPLAUSE] So, as an alternative, the side of Seongmo Hospital said that they would not relocate but would build a new building in that spot. So, in my opinion, even though relocating would cost around 100 billion won, the promise they made to the citizens was to build a new building in the current area where the hospital is located. Currently, the building is about 650 pyeong, but they plan to expand it to about 2,000 pyeong to provide medical services to the citizens. However, the issue now is where this new building will be located. The existing Seongmu Hospital is situated on the cultural heritage stone wall. It's at the corner of this stone wall, and in front of the old building, there has been restoration work done in a circular shape, so the Seongmo Hospital is next to it. However, in order to build a new building in that spot, they would need to move it more than 10 meters away from the stone wall. So, building a new structure in that location is not feasible because it needs to be approved by the Cultural Heritage Administration. Therefore, it is not possible to build a 2,000 pyeong building in that location.

So, now, what they gave us as a restriction is that since the Il-dong office parking lot cannot be newly constructed there, it's separated from the Il-dong parking lot. If they give us the Il-dong parking lot, we will build about 2,000 pyeong there. That's what we talked about with the hospital director. So, we can't give an immediate answer, we need to review it comprehensively. If we go to the Il-dong parking lot and use the existing Seongbo hospital site as a parking lot, legally, we need to consider if we can use it together or not. And if it's decided officially, Il-dong has to leave. They have to leave, so Seongbo Hospital's parking lot will expand, and the service will be perfect. However, Il-dong's office cannot leave like this and cannot move away from the downtown area. So, we need to send the TF team to handle that.

I think we need to do that. So, looking at it, now, in terms of the area of the site, if we look at three buildings, the area is 600 pyeong, 700 pyeong. For the site area of the three buildings, more than 600 pyeong, we need to secure that. We need to relocate the parking lot, and so, that's the issue. So, we have decided to comprehensively review and discuss with the hospital side. Regarding the new construction issue, we will inform them that we will handle it for the future. Another thing is that we have been pushing forward with the establishment of a comprehensive hospital, and we are continuing to push forward with the addition of a comprehensive hospital. So, in order to establish a comprehensive hospital, we are currently working on it practically and in detail. We are pushing for over 200 beds, and a comprehensive hospital should have more than seven departments. So, we are currently pushing forward practically in Hyundai. The practical discussions are all taking place at Hyundai.

We agreed to discuss it together when it's over, so the decision hasn't been made yet at Hyundai, but it seems like it will be made soon. Once the decision is made, we will discuss the practical matters and proceed with the contract. Regarding last year, in November, we reached an agreement with Hyundai. So, we are proceeding with the high school and general hospital. When I was in charge of the economic department, in 2007, Chairman Jung Moon-gu, the chairman of the automobile group, came to Dangjin. When there was County Mayor Min Jong-ki, he announced it at the County Office that they would engage in local cooperation projects. As far as I know, there are three projects at Hyundai: welfare town, high school, and general hospital. The welfare town, Hyundai 200, has been completed, but the high school and general hospital projects have not progressed. So, I have always talked to Hyundai about it. Chairman Jung Moon-gu promised to keep his promise, why isn't he keeping it?

Why didn't Hwang Shin, the former chairman, keep it if he was supposed to? When he sadly declared at that time and now why is he just staying still? So, last November, I met with the representative and reached an agreement, planning to sign it on December 18th. We were going to proceed with the agreement on the private high school and hospital with Hyundai MO. However, the representative changed. Even though there is a new representative now, we will continue with the project. The new representative called me, and since the agreement was already made, we will proceed. I heard about the private high school and comprehensive hospital plans and discussed it with the new representative. We are currently working on it in detail, and once it is finalized, we will proceed with the MOU. So, what we are most concerned about now is the conditions.

It's Sunyi. The amount of investment attraction to companies exceeds 10 trillion won, practically the most in Chungcheongnam-do. No matter how attractive the investment company is, it's meaningless if people have to commute from Cheonan and Asan. I heard just the other day that the population moving to Asan from Dangjin has exceeded 5,000 people. If the residents move to Asan, then if the highway between Dangjin and Cheonan becomes connected, you can commute while having a cup of coffee. It takes about 30 minutes back and forth. So, if we invest, we shouldn't spend money in Cheonan and Asan. To prevent that, what we need to do first is to create educational facilities, clothing, parks, and such living conditions. If we don't do that now, Dangjin will fall behind in the future. Therefore, I think we, along with public officials, need to quickly create living conditions. This requires concentrating administrative efforts. So, I would like to emphasize that this is what we need to focus on. That's why this time, regarding Songmu...

Although the hospital plan fell through, they mentioned providing an additional 2,000 pyeong for legal matters. Also, they are thinking that if a general hospital comes in from Hyundai, medical services will be covered. I have explained this, and if you have any questions, please feel free to ask. Yes, for smooth progress, those who have questions can raise their hands. Yes, this is a news article from the National Assembly. I have just heard the progress so far, and I am impressed. It seems like it will be wrapped up soon, but when this project started, they may have estimated around 1 trillion won, but at that time, such discussions did not come up. Also, many people from the beginning emphasized that it should not move out of the downtown area. There was a lot of debate on whether to proceed or not, but eventually, it was decided to go ahead. Now, after investigating, it turns out that the construction industry is not doing well there.

Due to the cost, it was said that it couldn't be done. But what you mentioned about Cheonho Street is about not being able to do it from there, right? So, it's not that I mentioned a billion won, but it was mentioned from the church. If that's the case, there wasn't enough budget from the beginning, so eventually, it seems like it will go through the city. Then, now we will review that part and understand it now. In that case, you were talking about Hyundai Steel and the general hospital, right? So, I'm curious if the general hospital will come out to the city or go in that direction. I didn't make that decision, but Hyundai will invest in it, so yes, it will be decided by Hyundai. But if Hyundai builds a general hospital, it seems like the amount will exceed 1 trillion won. We need to design that to know. Yes, that's right. This is Reporter Park Jae-shin.

Regarding the expansion of new buildings, you mentioned that you will discuss the plans together with the city now. You mentioned earlier about the proposal from Seonbo Hospital in Dangjin 1-do regarding the administrative welfare center and parking lot site. From that perspective, if we look at it, it can be seen as Seongmu Hospital trying to expand its budget as much as possible. However, when it was first discussed, the construction material prices were not expected to rise as much as they are now, but you said you would proceed. Also, I remember that even though you mentioned that the mayor provided a lot of administrative support, it still fell through in the end. If, despite doing this, construction material prices keep rising or unexpected situations continue to arise, then...

There is a possibility that this could also fizzle out at the St. Mary's Hospital. I am curious about what kind of plans the city has regarding this. Another thing that could be a bit sensitive is that from a certain perspective, one of the reasons for the failure of the St. Mary's Hospital relocation project is that Dangjin City focused more on establishing Hyundai Steel's comprehensive hospital plan. So, in the end, isn't it the case that the St. Mary's Hospital project faltered a bit due to this? In this diocese as well, ultimately, isn't it the case that they were a bit concerned about this and paid attention to it? There are opinions like this as well. What do you think about this? Yes, regarding the 2,000 pyeong (approx. 6,600 square meters) application for the St. Mary's Hospital, what will happen if they break their promise? That's the concern. Surely they wouldn't do that, right? This Catholic bishop is saying that. They applied for it, and now they are giving up.

They are embarrassed to put it down. If they can't keep their promises, they feel embarrassed. So, with about 10 billion won, they say they will do it on their own without the approval of the government. There is also luck involved there, but now they can't handle it. From my perspective as a bishop, they can't resolve it. So, they have no choice but to invest more than 100 billion won, making it difficult for them to make a judgment. Therefore, they say they will do it in the A area according to the regulations. But here, building a new hospital is also about the Lord, it's a Catholic spirit. Promises should be kept, and it's very unfortunate that they can't keep their promises. So, they are concerned that building this comprehensive hospital may be too burdensome, and they seem to have thoughts about compensating for the citizens who couldn't keep their promises by rebuilding the hospital.

This time, it's clear that we have the thought that if we propose an alternative now, won't they follow it? And isn't it because of the current comprehensive church finances? I don't think so. After listening to Bishop for an hour, they did it with their own will. If there are funds, they will do it now. If there are funds. But I don't know about the accounting treatment now. But in the Catholic Church, they don't use funds for accounting, they use the money they have for budgeting. That's how the system works. So if more than 10 billion won is invested, they have to borrow money. They have to borrow money, but the interest rates are high, and it's really difficult for the Catholic Daejeon Archdiocese. So there was talk in some parts that if they make a mistake, those who have funds will be okay, but there was such talk. So what about Hyundai High School?

It doesn't matter. I think so. Yes, it's a pity that this project fell through, but I would like to ask about fundamental issues. There are currently many problems at hospitals like general hospitals or specialized departments such as digestive disease departments. Financial deficits and operational issues are noticeable, and there is a significant shortage of medical staff. Furthermore, it is said that the more the digestive disease department operates, the larger the deficit becomes. Not only in the present but also in the future, I believe that the role of the central government or local governments is crucial in cases like general hospitals or digestive departments. Administrative support is necessary, but budgetary support is also essential. Currently, we are providing an annual support of 1 billion won for personnel expenses at the general hospital, but in order to attract and maintain a general hospital or a specialized digestive department in Dangjin City, we need to prepare in advance and have discussions.

I will ask how you prepared and how it was achieved. You are asking ambiguous questions. Questions that I cannot handle. There were no youth and night shifts here. It started on April 1st last year, and not even a month has passed, and I'm raising my hands. Not even a month has passed, so I can't do it. It's a real failure. We hired math and cleaning doctors accordingly, but it's difficult to find them. We gave a budget of 1 billion, but it just didn't work out. Now, after analyzing it, we found out that 90% of the visitors until dawn are sign language cleaning, and from midnight to morning, it's 10%. So, we decided to operate until dawn, providing emergency care and making adjustments. We have been doing this until now, treating 25 to 30 patients a day. In fact, fortunately, the short-term budget input covers it. But...

In other cities, it's just impossible. If the kids get sick, should we go to Asan or Cheonan? So, I'm telling you that we are maintaining the population of ten million this year. Another thing I want to mention is that in the first half of last year, hospitals nationwide recruited sign language interpreters. They recruited 240 people, but how many gathered? Only four people. That's the reality of our country's medical field. Then what happens? Our country is not a place where people want to live. Even if there are no doctors, the government can't cover it. What happened last year? Sign language interpreters gathered in Seoul periodically. 700 people gathered to form a research group. They gathered to discuss issues related to sign language and adolescents, plastic surgery, and mental health. About 700 people gathered to discuss how to proceed with sign language and adolescents regularly. This is how the plan should be clearly carried out by the government.

That's right. In order for rural areas to survive, who will come to rural areas to be a doctor? Even if they come, it doesn't work. It's not solvable with money. Who should take care of this? It should be the government. The government needs to handle this. Otherwise, rural areas cannot survive. Our local government does not have the capacity. Even though we have these children, the birth rate is decreasing. This is covered by that. It's like a dream in other cities. Therefore, we are doing our best, but we need the government to come up with fundamental measures. Yes, I would like to say that we are continuously requesting the government to provide support. Behind me, reporter Kim Gap-soo, I may not have understood it well, but are we choosing one of the first and second measures to implement, or are we implementing both? Or are you prioritizing one of them in Dangjin City? Could you confirm that?

I would like to ask for your support. This was driven by the cost of the Holy Mother, together with modern yoga. In the case of President Mo, when buying things like this, the profitability of hospitals in this area, such as what kind of population, and so on, can be driven together at two hospitals. In the case of comprehensive hospitals now, they have turned into profit. Comprehensive hospitals are now in the black. There are medical disputes now in comprehensive hospitals, you know, like in Seoul, major university hospitals did not see well. The Dangjin Comprehensive Hospital has increased its utilization rate by 30%. The Dangjin Comprehensive Hospital has increased by 30% and the beds are full, and since it is a small number, even if the local hospital does well, if you look at it, it seems that it is doing well here. However, now the Dangjin Comprehensive Hospital is in the black and is doing well, and Hyundai Comprehensive Hospital will now be put into a hospital for industrial accidents. If it's an industrial accident, then Dangjin...

It's difficult to go to Seoul for medical services, so if Hyundai provides these services here in Dangjin, not only Dangjin but also people from other cities will come. I have this thought. In Seosan and Dangjin, more people from Seosan go to Dangjin Hospital, and the number of outpatients is larger. Dangjin people now go to Seoul for treatment instead of going to Dangjin Hospital. The population is 25%, meaning 75% of Dangjin people go to outpatient clinics. They go to Cheonan or the metropolitan area. However, out of this 25%, which department do they mainly go to? It's the nuclear medicine department, related to cancer. Since this department is not available here, they go to comprehensive hospitals or to Seoul. So, if Hyundai and they discuss it, their hope is to include such departments here in Dangjin. If the departments for going to Seoul are included in Dangjin, not only us but also people from nearby cities can come to Hyundai Hospital instead of going to Seoul.

In order to receive medical treatment, we believe that providing more services would be beneficial. Yes, in the future, this is also a problem that we need to solve. Currently, if we proceed with building both the Songmo Hospital and the general hospital together, both will be operational. That's right. Oh, yes, I regret Busan Dae Hospital. Currently, the crew is limited, and hospitals in the area are considering expanding into vacant lots. Hospitals will propose plans for expanding into those areas. Yes, that's right. So, in the past, we always argued about this. Currently, they are trying to create public parking lots in the parking lot or behind the Seongmo Church. By expanding there, they can even reach the funeral market. In fact, it is convenient for the residents of Dangjin to live in the old downtown area. Why do we advocate for the funeral market? Currently, Mr. Seo Young-ho...

While selling at the funeral market, I was caught and sold. This prevention was water. The market owner knew and sold it. Well, I'll leave it to our food seller. Honestly, do those people even have a business license? If they are caught, there will be many inspections. And then, they will send the profits to the hospital. They could avoid taxes. But there is a wind. Many elderly people want to do it, but it's difficult because of the rain and the time is limited. After that, dealing with the situation, isn't it better for Baekbyeongjang to come out of Dangjin City? Anyway, they are going to the public cemetery. In modern times, to activate the Dangjin area, you must activate one public cemetery. As I mentioned earlier, the first place should go, so now that everyone has land, it's good. That's right. Now, that's the TF team.

I would like to talk about the plan to develop the era. Yes, yes, this is journalist Injeong Bang. I have two questions. First, I am curious about the plan to utilize the Suseong 1st Earth Hospital site. And secondly, regarding the establishment of the cooperative comprehensive hospital, I am wondering when the business agreement will be made and when it will be established. I am curious about the specific plans. Yes, you mentioned the existing site early on, right? Since the current site is now owned by the association, the association will make the decision. The landowner, as the owner of the association, is subject to the regulations, and according to the regulations, the land use cannot be changed within two years. After the groundbreaking, and based on the estimated completion by the end of the year, it will not be legally possible to change until the end of 2026. Whether the association will attract the hospital to the site or use it for other purposes, this decision needs to be approved and made by the association.

And one more thing, the business discussion with Hyundai Steel is currently being actively pursued by Hyundai Steel. It seems like it will be finalized soon. Once it's finalized, we will formally discuss and adjust the business agreement. We will then proceed to sign the business agreement. The timing for this, well, the specifics are not decided by us directly, but by Hyundai. Therefore, from what I've heard, it seems like it will happen soon. Also, I would like to express my gratitude to the reporters for taking the time today. As I mentioned earlier, for Dangjin to become a pleasant city to live in, proper residential conditions are necessary. Therefore, in the future, we will work on creating Dangjin as a city where Kangjin can live with suitable residential conditions. We ask for your continued interest and support in what we are striving for. Thank you for your time today. Thank you. That's all for now.

We will finish the briefing on the relocation of Dangjin Seongmo Hospital.

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