[Welfare Advanced Nation 2030-Part 2] ③ 'Meal-Deprived Children, One More Convenience Store Kimbap if Living in Jongno'... Regional Support Disparities

Office of Assemblyman Kang Deuk-gu Analyzes Meal Cost per Malnourished Child by City/County/District
7000 KRW in Gangwon, Gyeongsang, Jeolla... 2000 KRW Lower than Seoul Jongno and Seocho
Different Intake by Growth Stage... Same Support Payment for Elementary and High School Students
Regular Surveys Needed on Child Meal Support Status

Editor's NoteIs South Korea a developed country? In the 'Advanced Welfare Country 2030' project, which was prepared to explore the 'direction of developed countries' through National Assembly legislation, following the previous 'Part 1 - People with Developmental Disabilities,' this time we address 'children facing food insecurity' and 'children aging out of care (youth preparing for independence).' We examine the winter of children who must worry about every meal during school vacations when school meals stop, and the winter of children aging out of child care facilities who must face adulthood unprepared, and seek legislative and response measures at the National Assembly level.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

"Dear fellow citizens, and honorable members of the National Assembly, protecting socially vulnerable groups who suffer greater hardships during economic difficulties is a fundamental duty of the state." - President Yoon Seok-yeol, October 25 National Assembly policy speech "We will do our utmost with all the efforts entrusted to us by the people so that the pain of the vulnerable does not turn into tears." - Sung Il-jong, Policy Committee Chair of the People Power Party, October 28 post-parliamentary audit follow-up meeting

"We will transform the government's ruthless special privilege budget into a warm livelihood budget that protects the lives of the people." - Lee Jae-myung, Leader of the Democratic Party, November 16 Supreme Council meeting

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] Although the government operates a child meal support system to help low-income families' children with their meals, significant disparities in meal quality exist across regions. Currently, the child meal program has been decentralized to local governments for autonomous operation, but due to differences in financial independence, the support unit price and usage standards vary widely. The fact that children facing food insecurity mainly rely on convenience stores for meals, and that a uniform support amount of 7,000 to 8,000 KRW is provided regardless of age, is criticized as a limitation stemming from a lack of policy detail. Therefore, voices are calling for regular status checks and surveys to minimize regional disparities and ensure demand-centered child meal support.

On the 22nd, Asia Economy, in collaboration with the office of Kang Deuk-gu, a member of the National Assembly's Education Committee from the Democratic Party, collected and investigated the current status of meal support unit prices for children facing food insecurity by city, county, and district, as well as plans for increases. The results showed that the child meal support unit price varies greatly from 7,000 KRW to 9,000 KRW depending on the local government, and the timing of raising the price to the government-recommended level also differs.

The child meal support project targets children under 18 years old, both enrolled and not enrolled in school, who are at risk of food insecurity. As of 2021, there are 302,231 such children. These include children from basic livelihood security recipients (173,008), near-poverty groups (17,224), and single-parent families (111,999), who have difficulty preparing meals by their guardians or feeding themselves.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare currently recommends a meal support unit price of 7,000 KRW for these children facing food insecurity. Although local governments have announced increases in support prices, the National Assembly emphasizes the need to adjust meal support costs realistically in line with inflation. Accordingly, Seoul and Gyeonggi raised the child meal support unit price from 7,000 KRW to 8,000 KRW starting in August, Busan from September, and 11 cities and counties in Chungnam from last month.

Other local governments such as Gangwon, Gyeongnam, Gyeongbuk, Daegu, Gwangju, Jeonnam, Jeonbuk, Chungbuk, and Jeju, which have not adjusted the child meal support unit price this year, will raise it to 8,000 KRW starting next year.

Despite announcements of increases by metropolitan governments, the child meal support unit price standards vary by basic local governments such as cities, counties, and districts. As of November, the highest meal support for children facing food insecurity is provided in Seoul's Seocho-gu and Jongno-gu, and Busan's Gijang-gun, Jung-gu, Busanjin-gu, Haeundae-gu, and Geumjeong-gu, where 9,000 KRW per meal is supported. Okcheon-gun in Chungbuk and Goseong-gun in Gyeongnam will also raise the price to 9,000 KRW next year. Considering that most local governments maintain the current 7,000 KRW child meal support unit price until the end of the year, the support amount for the same children facing food insecurity can differ by up to 2,000 KRW depending on where they live. Whether a child can have an extra convenience store kimbap roll depends on their region.

It is also problematic that the child meal cards provided to children facing food insecurity are mainly used at convenience stores. According to data obtained by Kang's office from 17 city and provincial education offices nationwide, from January to June this year, over 40% (41.9%) of child meal card usage occurred at convenience stores. Other usage locations include regular restaurants and snack bars (25.4%), marts (16.6%), and bakeries (8.1%).

By region, the highest convenience store usage rates were Daegu (67%) and Incheon (63.2%), followed by Seoul (49.3%), Busan (47.0%), and Ulsan (47.0%). Other regions such as Gyeonggi (46.5%), Gyeongnam (46.5%), and Jeonnam (44.0%) also had about 4 out of 10 children using their meal cards at convenience stores. In some areas like Jeonbuk and Chungnam, the convenience store usage rate was relatively low at 13.3% and 22.2%, respectively, but the mart usage rate reached 60%.

A representative from Kang's office explained, "Since local governments allow autonomous use of child meal cards, usage locations differ," adding, "The classification criteria for marts also vary, so there is no unified standard defining what counts as a 'mart'." However, they analyzed that most children facing food insecurity tend to prefer convenience stores or marts over restaurants. Despite rapidly rising domestic prices, the child meal card support unit price remains at 7,000 KRW per meal, failing to reflect inflation, forcing children to rely on convenience stores or marts for meals.

There are also calls to increase support amounts according to growth stages. Children in growth phases need to consume appropriate and sufficient nutrients by age group, but currently, support is provided uniformly without considering growth stage characteristics, which is problematic.

Children having meals at a child welfare center. Photo by Asia Economy DB.

A, a basic livelihood security recipient whose child is eligible for child meal support, said, "My child is in the third year of middle school, and their food intake has increased compared to when they were younger," adding, "Support amounts should vary by age group rather than being the same for first graders and high school seniors." Since the child meal card allows daily rollover, sometimes the 7,000 KRW per meal support is accumulated over 2-3 days to buy meals. A's child said, "I usually eat at convenience stores during weekdays and save the remaining amount to buy what I want later," adding, "I usually use it all before the end of the month."

Ko Wan-seok, Child Rights Advocacy Team Leader at Good Neighbors, explained, "When people think of children facing food insecurity, they tend to imagine elementary school students, but that's not always the case," adding, "Middle and high school students have a wider living range and can eat in various places, but due to several limitations (cost, convenience, etc.), they rely solely on convenience stores." He also emphasized, "Providing meal cards does not guarantee that children eat all their meals, so policy detail considering 'care issues' is necessary."

There are also criticisms that legal grounds to drive administrative momentum are insufficient. Currently, there are no regulations for even basic status assessments related to children facing food insecurity, leaving the burden solely on local governments. Accordingly, voices are calling for the National Assembly to establish legal grounds for status assessments.

Members of the People Power Party Kang Min-guk and Democratic Party's Heo Young proposed amendments to the Child Welfare Act related to children facing food insecurity in December last year. Kang suggested that the Minister of Health and Welfare annually inspect local governments' child meal program operations and conduct a status survey of support services every five years alongside the 'Comprehensive Child Survey.' Heo also proposed annual inspections of meal support status. Additionally, the bill included provisions for the state to subsidize part of the meal costs considering local governments' financial independence and to reward outstanding local governments under Article 30 of the Government Performance Evaluation Basic Act. Nearly a year has passed since the bill was proposed, but it has yet to pass even the subcommittee and remains pending in the National Assembly.