Jeonju City to provide basic disaster fund to the underprivileged

The city of Jeonju has become the first local government to provide the citizens suffering from economic losses with basic disaster fund in order to help them fight the coronavirus outbreak.

The Jeonju City Council approved an emergency supplementary budget bill at its special meeting held on Friday. Of the supplementary budget of 55.65 billion won, 26.35 billion won is set aside for the basic disaster fund for the underprivileged.

The basic disaster fund per person has been raised by 27,000 won from the 500,000 won initially proposed by the city government. The City Council raised the amount per person to 527,158 won based on the living wage of one person household set by the National Basic Living Security Act.

As a result, some 50,000 underprivileged people, including the unemployed and irregular workers, living in Jeonju will receive 527,000 won per person next month. The money, which will be given in the form of debit cards, should be spent in the city within three months. Those who are already receiving unemployment benefits or have applied for government stipends and the small business owners benefiting from other subsidies will not be eligible for the special payment.

The city of Jeonju established a task force team for systematic provision of basic disaster fund. The task force team and relevant organizations will work on follow-up detailed procedures.


minpress@donga.com