Gyeonggi Province Achieves Highest Safety Evaluation Grade "Excellent" for First Time in 9 Years with 2026 Disaster Management Assessment
[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Kim Kab-dong] Gyeonggi Province is distinguishing itself in the safety management sector by continuing to achieve excellent results in major safety evaluations led by the Ministry of Interior and Safety.
The province announced on the 9th that it was selected as an "Excellent" institution, the highest grade among metropolitan local governments, in the '2026 Disaster Management Assessment' led by the Ministry of Interior and Safety. This is the first time the province has been selected as an excellent institution since 2017, marking 9 years. Gyeonggi Province had received a "Fair" grade for 8 consecutive years from 2018 to 2025.
The Disaster Management Assessment is a system that comprehensively evaluates the management status of disaster management by stages for 340 disaster management responsible institutions nationwide, including central administrative agencies, local governments, and public institutions, in accordance with the 'Disaster and Safety Management Framework Act.' This year's evaluation was conducted for 30 central government ministries, 67 public institutions, and 243 local government agencies, with evaluation results by institution assigned grades of excellent, fair, or insufficient.
In this assessment, Gyeonggi Province received excellent evaluations for its implementation performance and management systems across all stages of disaster management: prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery. In particular, it was highly evaluated in areas directly related to residents' safety, including operation of the disaster and safety management system, strengthening disaster response capabilities, safety inspections by disaster type and management of risk factors, construction of disaster situation management systems, and establishment of support systems for disaster relief and recovery.
In addition, the province was selected as an excellent institution for the second consecutive year in the '2026 National Safety Management Plan Implementation Analysis and Evaluation' conducted by the Ministry of Interior and Safety ('26.7.1.), and achieved the highest number of first-grade categories among 17 metropolitan local governments in the Ministry of Interior and Safety's '2025 Regional Safety Index' that quantifies local safety levels ('26.1.12.). This represents receiving first-grade in 5 of 6 categories—traffic accidents, fires, crime, daily life safety, suicide, and infectious disease—which is unique among local governments across the nation. This also maintains 11 consecutive years from 2015 to 2025 of achieving the most first-grade categories nationwide.
Gyeonggi Province explained that this achievement is the result of continuous system improvements in disaster and safety management and strengthened field-oriented safety management. The province has responded systematically from the initial stage of the disaster management assessment by analyzing vulnerable indicators and conducting advance inspections of areas requiring improvement. In particular, in January, the province conducted external consulting for the disaster management assessment under the direction of the Director of Safety Management to examine the previous year's evaluation results and response measures for new and vulnerable indicators, and shared implementation status and improvement tasks by department. Additionally, the province strengthened its prevention-focused inspection system that identifies and manages risk factors in advance, and reorganized situation management, training, and inter-agency cooperation systems in preparation for disaster occurrence.
Moving forward, Gyeonggi Province plans to share various assessment results with its 31 cities and counties, disseminate excellent practices while supplementing insufficient areas with improvement plans, and continuously strengthen its disaster management capabilities.
Kim Kyu-sik, Director of Safety Management, stated, "The excellent rating in the disaster management assessment, second consecutive excellent rating in the national safety management plan evaluation, and highest number of first-grade categories in the regional safety index are the result of the province, 31 cities and counties, and related agencies strengthening field-oriented safety management systems together. We will strengthen the entire cycle of disaster management systems—from prevention through preparedness, response, recovery to damage support and daily life restoration—to make Gyeonggi Province a truly outstanding 'Gyeonggi Safety Premium Metropolitan City.'"