'Cheonwon-ui Achim Haksik' Support Target Doubled to 1.5 Million People

Announcement for Additional Recruitment of Participating Universities in April

The government has decided to more than double the number of beneficiaries for the '1,000 Won Breakfast' program, which allows university students to have breakfast priced between 3,500 and 5,000 won at student cafeterias for just 1,000 won.

On the 29th, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs announced that the scale of the 1,000 Won Breakfast program will be expanded from the initially planned 690,000 people to 1.5 million people.

The 1,000 Won Breakfast program requires students to pay 1,000 won, with the government contributing 1,000 won and the university providing support ranging from 1,500 to 3,000 won. Earlier, on the 13th, the ministry selected 41 universities as beneficiaries for this year. Due to a sharp increase in demand from universities and students, the support scale will be expanded. Accordingly, the project budget will increase from 778 million won to 1.588 billion won.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the Korea Agency of Education, Promotion and Information Service in Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries will announce a call for new participating universities next month and complete the selection process so that more students can benefit. For universities already selected, the number of supported students will also be expanded if the schools wish.

Management and promotion of the project will also be strengthened. As the support scale increases, to prevent poor-quality meals, on-site inspections of meal plans at each university, meetings between schools and students, and surveys will be conducted to ensure close field management. To establish breakfast eating as a cultural norm, the program will enhance promotion through student participation supporters and plans to discover and spread various excellent cases.

Jeon Han-young, Director of Food Policy at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, stated, "This expansion of the program is part of the government's efforts to ease the burden of food expenses caused by recent high inflation and to support the difficulties faced by the younger generation." He added, "It will also have a positive effect on maintaining the balance of rice supply and demand by increasing rice consumption among future generations."