Sejong Lowers 'Yeominjeon' Purchase Limit to 300,000 Won... Plans to Expand Issuance Amount

Image of Sejong local currency Yeominjeon. Source=Yonhap News

[Asia Economy (Sejong) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] Sejong City is reducing the monthly purchase limit of the local currency Yeominjeon while simultaneously promoting an increase in its issuance amount. This move reflects citizens' opinions hoping for expanded opportunities to purchase Yeominjeon.

Sejong City announced on the 27th that starting next month, the monthly purchase limit per individual will be lowered from the current 500,000 KRW to 300,000 KRW.

Earlier, the city conducted a recent survey on the 'Local Currency Yeominjeon Operation Plan.' As a result, citizens expressed that even if the monthly purchase limit per individual is reduced, more users should be able to purchase Yeominjeon.

When preferences were surveyed between Option 1, which reduces the monthly purchase limit per individual to 300,000 KRW and continues issuing Yeominjeon until December, and Option 2, which maintains the current 500,000 KRW limit but stops issuance early when the budget is exhausted, Option 1 overwhelmingly led with a 69.5% preference.

This is the reason why the city will reduce the Yeominjeon purchase limit starting next month. It is expected that the number of people able to purchase Yeominjeon will increase from the current 45,000 to about 90,000 due to the adjustment of the purchase limit.

Along with adjusting the purchase limit, the city will allow purchases anytime until the remaining issuance amount for the second half of the year (160 billion KRW) is fully used, and will improve the purchase method from a lottery system to automatic or manual charging.

In particular, the city plans to increase this year’s Yeominjeon issuance volume from 150 billion KRW to 240 billion KRW through consultation with the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, and improve citizens’ purchasing conditions by securing an additional 75 billion KRW through the government supplementary budget.

The city explained that if national funding is secured, the total Yeominjeon issuance scale for this year will increase to 315 billion KRW.

This represents a 180% increase compared to last year’s issuance volume (based on general issuance) of 174.6 billion KRW, and the city expects that conditions will be established for more citizens to purchase Yeominjeon stably.

Meanwhile, next month, automatic charging for Yeominjeon will start at 1:00 AM on the 1st, and manual charging will begin at 9:00 AM on the 1st.

Lee Chun-hee, Mayor of Sejong City, said, “We have improved the operating system by reducing the monthly purchase limit per individual and enhancing user convenience to provide more citizens with opportunities to purchase Yeominjeon. The city will continue to make every effort to secure the local currency budget and create conditions for citizens to purchase Yeominjeon stably.”

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