Daegu City Expands Disability Pension Basic Benefit Up to 300,000 KRW per Month... Including Those Above the Near-Poverty Threshold

Expanded from a maximum of 250,000 KRW to 300,000 KRW from January

The photo shows volunteer activities of the Daegu City Home Repair Project Team.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Dong-wook] Daegu City announced on the 21st that starting from January this year, the basic pension amount for the Disabled Pension will be expanded to a maximum of 300,000 KRW per month for all recipients, including basic livelihood security recipients, near-poverty groups, and those exceeding the near-poverty threshold.

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The total scale of the basic pension amount for the Disabled Pension this year amounts to 64 billion KRW (44.8 billion KRW from national funds, 19.2 billion KRW from city funds).

The Disabled Pension is a social security system that provides a fixed amount monthly pension to persons with severe disabilities, consisting of a 'basic pension' to compensate for income reduction and an 'additional pension' to cover extra costs due to disability.

Starting in 2019 with an increase of the basic pension amount to 300,000 KRW per month for livelihood and medical benefit recipients, the payment was expanded in 2020 to include near-poverty groups (bottom 40% income). From this year, it will be further expanded to all Disabled Pension recipients, including those exceeding the near-poverty threshold (bottom 70% income).

As of the end of December 2020, about 18,520 people, accounting for 14.7% of the total disabled population in Daegu City, receive the Disabled Pension. To prevent existing recipients from losing eligibility, the selection criteria for Disabled Pension recipients this year will be maintained at the same level as the previous year (single 1.22 million KRW, couple 1.952 million KRW or less).

Park Jae-hong, Director of the Welfare Bureau of Daegu City, stated, "We hope that the increased Disabled Pension will help secure income and stabilize the lives of persons with severe disabilities who are going through a more difficult time than anyone else due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic."

Applications for the Disabled Pension can be made at the local town, township offices, and neighborhood community centers in the applicant's area of residence.

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