Sangju City Strengthens Welfare Policies for Disabled People, '10% of Total Population'... 18 Billion Won Invested This Year

An after-school learning activity conducted as part of the disability welfare policy in Sangju City.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Choi Jae-ho] Sangju City, Gyeongbuk Province, is actively implementing various support projects such as increasing disability pensions and providing public jobs to improve the quality of life for people with disabilities, who make up 10% of the total population.

According to Sangju City on the 22nd, the city secured a budget of 18 billion KRW, an increase of 1.6 billion KRW from last year, and is promoting projects such as disability job programs, disability activity support projects, and disability assistive device provision projects.

As of March 2021, the number of registered people with disabilities in Sangju City is 9,506, accounting for about 10% of the total population of approximately 97,000. To support the independent living of this significant portion of people with disabilities, the city is expanding the recipients of disability pensions and disability allowances, focusing on improving welfare through employment linkage for people with disabilities.

Sangju City secured 4.938 billion KRW to support disability pensions and disability allowances for low-income people with disabilities facing financial difficulties. From this year, the basic disability pension has also been increased to 300,000 KRW.

Along with this, the city has allocated a budget of 950 million KRW for this year to provide public jobs for people with disabilities. Participants were selected and placed to expand social participation and support income security. Participants are responsible for administrative assistance and environmental maintenance tasks at eup, myeon, and dong administrative welfare centers and related organizations within the local community.

Recently, as the issue of care for people with disabilities has emerged as a social concern due to COVID-19, Sangju City increased the budget related to care services, allocating a total of 3.409 billion KRW to provide seamless customized care services according to disability type and age group.

Mayor Kang Young-seok of Sangju City stated, "We will do our best to make Sangju a happier city for people with disabilities by continuously discovering and promoting disability welfare services."