Gangwon Province Allows Military Personnel to Use Consumption Coupons on Base Starting September 22

Governor Kim Jin-tae: "Plans to Enhance Convenience with Mobile Administrative Services"
Gangwon Province Allows 85,000 Military Personnel to Use Consumption Coupons at Their Bases

Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province (Governor Kim Jin-tae) has improved its system so that the livelihood recovery consumption coupons, which will be distributed starting on September 22, can be used by military personnel within their bases.

A panoramic view of the Gangwon Provincial Government Building. Provided by Gangwon Provincial Government.

This improvement was officially proposed by Governor Kim Jin-tae at the city and provincial governors’ meeting presided over by the President on August 1. Subsequently, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, after discussions with local governments nationwide and the Ministry of National Defense, supplemented the system so that from the second round of consumption coupons, applications from outside one’s registered address are also permitted.

As a result, military personnel fulfilling their service obligations can now choose to use the consumption coupons either in the local government of their registered address (usable only at the registered address and on-base PX) or in the local government of their place of service (usable only in the service area).

The provincial government stated that this system improvement will allow the coupons to be used freely in areas near military bases, which is expected to boost sales for local small businesses in border regions, improve consumption convenience for military personnel, and revitalize the local economy.

In particular, if military personnel stationed in the province apply for the second round of consumption coupons in their area of service, it is projected that approximately 8.5 billion won will be spent locally, with 850 million won of this amount funded by local government finances. To enhance convenience, the province will organize “mobile application teams” in cooperation with the Ministry of National Defense, visiting bases directly to provide one-stop processing from application to card issuance.

The second round of livelihood recovery consumption coupons will be distributed from September 22 to October 31, with 100,000 won provided per person to all residents except for the top 10% income bracket. The application method is the same as the first round, but when applying in person at a community center, recipients can simply present an ID without filling out an application form.

The range of eligible merchants has been expanded to include local consumer cooperatives (local co-op stores) with annual sales exceeding 3 billion won, in addition to the existing locations. The province also plans to operate a “Consumption Promotion Week” in conjunction with the Chuseok holiday consumption peak, implementing strategies to revitalize the local economy alongside the second round of coupon distribution (September 22 to October 31).

Governor Kim Jin-tae stated, “The use of livelihood recovery consumption coupons for military personnel, which I proposed at the governors’ meeting, will be implemented from the second round, enabling 85,000 military personnel in the province to use them conveniently. Military personnel can choose either their registered address or their base location.” He added, “We will further enhance convenience not only through system improvements but also by providing mobile administrative services.”

Meanwhile, the first round of applications for the livelihood recovery consumption coupons closed at 6 p.m. on September 12, with 1,482,416 out of 1,495,481 eligible residents in the province completing their applications, achieving a distribution rate of 99.1%. The total amount distributed reached 300.342 billion won.

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