Gurye-gun Allocates 61.3 Billion Won for Welfare Budget This Year... Realizing Welfare for All Residents to Prosper Together

Resolving Welfare Blind Spots through Customized Welfare Service Support
Expanding Elderly and Disabled Welfare to Address Aging Population

[Gurye=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yuk Miseok] On the 28th, Gurye-gun, Jeollanam-do announced that it has allocated a welfare budget of 61.3 billion KRW this year to promote projects tailored to each life cycle, including responding to aging, resolving polarization, establishing a care system for vulnerable groups, and providing customized support.

In particular, the plan is to focus on strengthening welfare for the elderly aged 65 and over, who make up 35% of the total population, and persons with disabilities, who account for 10%.

This year, the social welfare budget accounts for 18.5% of Gurye-gun’s main budget.

Major projects include 33.7 billion KRW for elderly welfare projects such as basic pensions and customized care services for seniors, and 5.1 billion KRW for disability welfare projects such as disability pensions and activity support for persons with disabilities.

The county is expanding welfare projects for the elderly to increase social participation opportunities for seniors in the 100-year era, alleviate economic burdens, and enable a fulfilling old age through various policies.

The most notable change is the increase in the basic pension eligibility criteria.

For single-person households, the threshold rose from 1.69 million KRW to 1.8 million KRW, and for couple households, from 2.7 million KRW to 2.88 million KRW, representing increases of 11.2% and 6.7%, respectively.

The basic pension, which was previously applied to the bottom 40% income bracket, has expanded its coverage to the bottom 70% income bracket.

This year, the maximum basic pension amount is set at 307,500 KRW for single-person households and 492,000 KRW for couple households.

Accordingly, the number of basic pension recipients is expected to be around 7,800, with a budget of 25.2 billion KRW allocated.

A budget of 2.4 billion KRW is allocated for senior job creation and social activity support projects.

This year, 908 seniors will be provided with jobs. Leisure activity support includes senior health program presentations, support for senior hobby clubs, senior colleges, educational courses, physical training, and cultural and artistic projects.

15 billion KRW is allocated for customized care services for the elderly.

Customized services such as safety checks, health management, care, and linkage services are provided to 1,251 seniors aged 65 and over who have difficulty maintaining daily life independently.

For 285 senior centers, operating expenses such as summer cooling costs, winter heating costs, and grain expenses are provided to ensure a comfortable environment throughout all seasons.

This year, an additional budget ranging from 500,000 KRW to 5 million KRW will be provided to 80 senior centers for wallpapering, flooring, boiler replacement, and other renovations.

In particular, various items such as massage chairs and air purifiers are supported within senior centers, and disinfection and pest control are conducted. A program manager is assigned to senior center tours to promote leisure activities and assist with accounting management, among other projects.

Child disability allowances range from 20,000 KRW to 220,000 KRW per month, and disability pensions will increase by 2.5% (7,500 KRW) from last year to a maximum of 387,500 KRW.

Support for activities of persons with disabilities and care projects for severely disabled persons will be expanded.

53 jobs will be supported to assist employment for persons with disabilities.

Submission of evaluation materials for disability registration will be simplified in cooperation with the National Pension Service.

The county is preparing a public contest project to establish a separate sports center for persons with disabilities.

Kim Sunho, the mayor of Gurye-gun, said, “Welfare policies must always be considered on-site to see if they change the lives of residents and contribute to their happiness, and we must find answers.” He added, “We will continue to communicate to change residents’ lives and provide practical help.”

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