Shinan-gun Distributes 3.8 Billion Won in Jeonnam-style COVID-19 Emergency Living Expenses

County Governor Park Wooryang: "Preparing to Ensure Many Residents Receive Subsidy Benefits"

Scenic view of Shinan-gun Office (Photo by Shinan-gun)

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Ki-woon] Shinan-gun, Jeollanam-do announced on the 1st that it has distributed 3.8 billion KRW worth of 1004 Islands Shinan gift certificates to about 12,000 households in the area as the ‘Jeonnam-type COVID-19 Emergency Living Expenses.’

The Jeonnam-type living expenses program was implemented with Shinan-gun covering 60% and Jeollanam-do covering 40% of the budget, separate from the government-supported emergency disaster relief funds, to stabilize the lives of residents struggling due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.

Considering the high-intensity social distancing campaign and the area's characteristics with many elderly residents, the county conducted a ‘visiting application and gift certificate distribution’ service, where public officials and village chiefs visited each village through 14 eup/myeon offices to assist with application submissions.

As of the 29th of last month, the approval rate for living support payments in Shinan-gun was 99.4%, which is relatively fast compared to the average approval rate of 88.8% across 22 cities and counties in Jeollanam-do.

This result was achieved by the county’s prompt survey and selection of beneficiaries, considering the urgency of the project, utilizing about 40 staff members from the Resident Welfare Division and Education Welfare Division at the main office as reception and survey personnel, among other various measures.

Kim (78, female) from Aphae-eup said, “Due to COVID-19, elderly job programs were suspended, making life difficult, and the senior centers were closed, which was frustrating. Receiving the emergency living expense gift certificates allowed me to go out to the town after a long time, buy rice and meat, which greatly helped my daily life.”

County Governor Park Woo-ryang said, “During this difficult time caused by the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, we expect that the Jeonnam-type emergency living expense support will help revive the local economy and stabilize residents’ livelihoods. We will also prepare measures to actively assist households that were excluded through an appeal review committee so that more residents can benefit from the support.”

The Jeonnam-type living expense support program closed applications on the 29th of last month, with 17,311 households applying. Of these, about 68% (11,703 households) were approved as beneficiaries, which is approximately 145% of the initially planned support target of 8,064 households.

The county is currently investigating 101 households requiring health insurance premium and property inquiry responses related to the applications and plans to complete all investigations within two weeks.

Meanwhile, among the 5,507 households that were excluded, those who disagree with the results can file an appeal with supporting documents at the relevant eup/myeon office within 14 days from the date of notification of the decision.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.