Osan City Brings Together People Through Music at Disability Song Festival

On the afternoon of the 27th, a meaningful event bringing together people with and without disabilities was held at the Osan City (Mayor Kwak Sang-wook) Cultural Arts Center.

The 8th Disability Song Festival with Citizens, organized by the Osan City branch of the Gyeonggi Province Disability Welfare Association (Branch Director Yi Man-seong), was successfully held at the Cultural Arts Center's grand performance hall, attended by approximately 400 people including Osan Mayor Kwak Sang-wook, City Council Chairman Choi Woong-soo, city council members and families of people with disabilities.

The song festival held that day was organized with the aim of promoting mutual harmony and improving awareness of disabilities through the participation of both people with and without disabilities.

The festival opened with pre-performance music from Nogo-jiri Pungmul and a saxophone club, and was followed by commendation ceremonies for 10 volunteers who had made significant contributions to volunteer work for people with disabilities.

Following the commendation ceremonies and encouraging remarks from key guests, the song festival featured eight teams of people with disabilities and eight teams of people without disabilities who fully displayed their honed skills in a lively festive celebration.

Yi Man-seong, director of the Osan City branch of the Gyeonggi Province Disability Welfare Association, who organized the event, said, "Just as the saying goes that disability is merely an inconvenience, not misfortune, I am very pleased to hold this festival where people can fully display their musical talents and passion."

Osan Mayor Kwak Sang-wook said, "I express gratitude to the officials of the Disability Welfare Association for creating this meaningful occasion where citizens and people with disabilities can come together in harmony," and added, "I hope today's song festival will give new courage to people with disabilities who have musical talents and passion, and become a place where we unite through song, transcending the boundaries between disability and non-disability."

Meanwhile, Osan City, which is working toward a world without discrimination against people with disabilities, implemented disability human rights improvement projects. In August, the city invited human rights instructors to provide training to civil servants on the concepts of disability human rights and cases of disability discrimination.

Additionally, the city established a Disability Discrimination Prevention and Human Rights Protection Committee to seek ways to prevent discrimination against people with disabilities and to provide effective remedies for their rights. The city has also conducted awareness improvement training for civil servants and leaders of community organizations, and held disability human rights seminars for workers at disability facilities and organizations.