The Intercultural city aims at building its policies and identity on the explicit acknowledgement that diversity can be a resource for the development of the society.The Republic of Korea conducts a triannual survey of locals on their intercultural acceptance. The findings from the survey serve as reference data for policy development. To ensure even more precise information analysis, Ansan City plans to conduct its own intercultural acceptance survey once a year.
Ansan was the first local government in South Korea to publish statistics on multicultural and international households, which consist of 98 types of standard statistical data for policy development. The city also publishes annual social survey reports that include a survey on people’s awareness of non-nationals, conducts annual fact-finding surveys of Koryo-saram in Ansan and regular surveys on non-nationals’ human rights.
In October 2019, all executive-level officials in Ansan City took an education course on the Intercultural Cities Programme. With a view of improving intercultural sensitivity, the city hosts a human rights film festival annually and organises a range of seminars and conferences designed to develop intercultural capacity building.
The city also pursues a range of human rights education programmes with a view to avoiding and preventing unnecessary misunderstandings and conflicts between locals and non-nationals. These include a human rights law education programme where instructors visit and teach interculturality education for public officials. There are education programmes on intercultural society for children and juveniles with the aim of building consensus among locals about interculturality and to help them develop a global mindset. Ansan City has signed memorandums of understanding with the police and intercultural organisations to ensure organised protection and intervention services for intercultural families.
Ansan City pursues friendship, exchange, and conciliation between different religions. There are many religious facilities run by civic groups that offer non-nationals shelters, cultural events, Korean language education, medical services, and missionary work. There are Christian, Catholic, Buddhist, and Muslim facilities in the city.
