Gwangyang City to Increase Child Meal Support Rates

by Heo Seonsik

Published 11 Jan.2024 11:35(KST)

Updated 14 Aug.2025 21:18(KST)

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Increase in Support Unit Price from 8,000 Won to 9,000 Won

Gwangyang City in Jeollanam-do announced on the 11th that despite its ultra-tight fiscal situation, it will increase the child meal support unit price for children at risk of food insecurity from 8,000 KRW to 9,000 KRW starting January 2024.

Child meal support is a program that provides one meal (lunch) daily during vacations and no meals are skipped during the semester on Saturdays, Sundays, and public holidays for children under 18 who are at risk of food insecurity.

[Photo by Gwangyang-si]

The city plans to invest 1.036 billion KRW this year to provide quality meals to growing children.

Applications can be made year-round through the ‘Bokjiro’ website or by visiting the relevant eup, myeon, or dong office directly. After investigating the income and other factors of the child’s household, the final beneficiaries are selected.

The child meal support recipients are children under 18 from households such as basic livelihood security recipients, lower-income brackets, and single-parent families who are at risk of food insecurity. Additionally, if children at risk of food insecurity are identified through teachers, social workers, or community leaders, the recipients are determined after review by the Child Welfare Deliberation Committee.

Oh Seung-taek, Director of the Childcare Division, said, “We raised the meal support unit price to help growing children have quality meals,” and added, “We will continuously identify children at risk of food insecurity and strive to provide customized meal support.”

Meanwhile, Gwangyang City currently supports child meals for about 680 children. The city also conducts regular guidance and inspections to prevent nutritional imbalances among children at risk of food insecurity and works to identify blind spots in advance to prepare for any gaps in meal provision.