Gijang-gun, First in Busan to Provide 'Veteran Spouse Allowance'

Busan's Gijang-gun will provide a special allowance for widows of veterans who participated in the Korean War and the Vietnam War starting January 2024, in recognition of their special contributions and to improve the welfare of their bereaved families.

This is the first initiative among the 16 basic local governments in Busan, where from next year, if a veteran passes away, the spouse will receive a monthly allowance of 50,000 KRW.

Until now, spouses of veterans who only had simple veteran qualifications did not inherit the veteran status upon the veteran's death and therefore received no support.

Accordingly, Gijang-gun decided to provide a "Veteran Spouse Allowance" to promote fairness with other national merit families and contribute to the stability of bereaved families' lives, amending the "Busan Gijang-gun Veteran Support Ordinance" to establish the legal basis for payment.

Gijang County Office.

The eligibility for applying for the veteran spouse allowance requires that the applicant has been registered as a resident in Gijang-gun for more than one year as of the application date and is the spouse under the "Act on the Registration of Family Relations" at the time of the veteran's death. However, those already receiving other veteran honor allowances are not eligible for duplicate payments.

Applications for the spouse allowance can be submitted starting November 1 by preparing the application form, veteran confirmation documents, marriage certificate, and a copy of the bankbook, and submitting them to the administrative welfare center of the applicant's local eup or myeon office.

Jeong Jong-bok, the county governor, stated, "It is a natural duty to strengthen the respect for the families of national veterans in the region who sacrificed for the peace and freedom of the country, and we will continue to do our best to improve the respect and treatment of national veterans."

Since July, Gijang-gun has increased the monthly veteran honor allowance for 883 Vietnam War veterans to 200,000 KRW, up by 50,000 KRW. From October, the veteran honor allowance has been significantly increased from 50,000 KRW to 100,000 KRW per month, continuously striving to honor national veterans and their families.