Yangcheon-gu (district mayor Lee Gi-jae) is launching a customized employment support program that provides one-stop services — from career exploration to job placement — to help borderline intelligence individuals, a group long excluded from institutional support despite falling in the gray zone between disability and non-disability classifications.
Borderline intelligence individuals, estimated to make up about 13.6 percent of South Korea's total population, have IQ scores between 71 and 84 and face difficulties in daily life and learning. Yet they fall outside the disability categories defined under the current Act on Welfare of Persons with Disabilities, leaving them ineligible for mandatory employment quotas or public support. Their employment rate stands at below 30 percent — less than half the 70 to 80 percent recorded for the general population.
In response, the district plans to partner with Huimang Ilgumteo, a disability vocational rehabilitation facility in the district, to operate the Yangcheon-gu Dudeurim Center — a tailored vocational training program designed around the specific characteristics of borderline intelligence individuals — and support their stable entry into society.
The program runs in sequential stages to systematically build participants' job-seeking capabilities: psychological assessment and vocational evaluation, career exploration, vocational training, job placement and follow-up management.
The program focuses on jobs that borderline intelligence individuals can adapt to — manufacturing, service and clerical support — and aims to raise employment success rates through repetition-based specialist training. Courses include barista training (beverage preparation and point-of-sale operations), roasting (bean sorting, packaging and equipment handling), and car wash attendant work (car wash tasks and customer management), with simulated work sessions, company-linked internships and on-site visits incorporated throughout.
Alongside this, the district will pursue phased job placement centered on sheltered employment and suitable positions through partnerships with small and medium-sized enterprises and social economy organizations. Ongoing follow-up support will be provided after employment to help participants adapt to the workplace. Regular counseling and on-site monitoring will assist with early workplace adjustment, and mentoring for workplace communication and interpersonal skills, as well as psychological and emotional support, will also be offered.
Hiring companies will receive education on understanding borderline intelligence individuals and job management guides to help create a work environment conducive to long-term employment.
The program is open year-round to borderline intelligence individuals of high school age and above. Residents wishing to participate may visit or call Huimang Ilgumteo, located at Room 804, 267 Sinjeong-ro, Yangcheon-gu, inside Yangcheon Venture Town. Full details on required documents and other information are available on the Huimang Ilgumteo website.
"I hope that borderline intelligence individuals, who have long struggled with employment and self-reliance due to falling into a legal blind spot, will use this Dudeurim Center program to discover their own strengths and move toward their dreams at their own pace," Yangcheon-gu District Mayor Lee Gi-jae said. "We will continue to practice close 'solidarity with the vulnerable' so that no resident is left behind, and work to build a Yangcheon-gu where everyone can be happy."
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