Busan City Increases Child Meal Unit Price from 7,000 to 8,000 Won... Expands Child Meal Card Usage Locations

Raising School Meal Fees by 14.3% from September to Counter Inflation

Child Meal Cards Now Accepted at Emart Food Courts

Busan City Hall.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] The child meal support allowance in Busan city will increase by 1,000 won per meal starting in September.

Busan city announced that from the 1st, the child meal support unit price has been raised by 14.3%, from 7,000 won to 8,000 won.

The increase in the meal unit price was implemented as part of the city's livelihood economy stabilization measures prepared in July to respond to rapidly rising prices.

The increased unit price is 1,000 won higher than the government-recommended child meal unit price of 7,000 won, benefiting about 16,000 children under 18 years old at risk of food insecurity.

Additionally, starting in September, Busan city will expand the usage locations to allow the child meal card to be used at Emart food courts. With the cooperation of partner Shinhan Card and Emart, from the 1st, the child meal card can be used at food courts in eight Emart branches within the city.

Park Hyung-jun, Mayor of Busan, said, “This decision on the meal unit price is meaningful as a proactive measure considering recent price increases,” and added, “We hope that conditions will be created for children at risk of food insecurity to have nutritious and balanced meals.”

Since July 2021, the city has established a system automatically linking Shinhan Card’s general restaurant merchants (excluding pubs, pojangmacha, cafes, etc.) with the child meal card, expanding the usage locations from about 3,600 in 2021 to about 46,000 currently. The meal card was also changed to a general card form embedded with an IC chip to make it easier for children to use.

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