Increased Benefits of Dongbaekjeon Local Currency in 2024: Utilize It as Much as You Know

Monthly limit of 300,000 KRW, 5% cashback maintained, additional cashback provided upon meeting government subsidy conditions

Merchant additional cashback increased from 2% to 3%, remote payment introduced, YouDoNaDo event and Dongbaek Angel ongoin

Busan City will operate the local currency Dongbaekjeon in 2024 with policies that offer even more diverse benefits.

Through the efficient use of a limited budget, more benefits will be provided to citizens and greater support to small business owners.

▲ The monthly limit of 300,000 KRW and 5% cashback policy (for annual sales under 3 billion KRW), which has been maintained since August 2022, will continue this year as well. However, if national funds are granted, additional cashback will be provided according to the grant conditions to immediately return benefits to citizens.

In the second half of last year, a 7% cashback (an additional 2%) was given when using Dongbaekjeon at merchants with sales under 1 billion KRW, but this year, since national funds have not yet been granted, a 5% cashback will be provided for the time being.

▲ The additional cashback rate for Dongbaek Plus merchants, which offer more benefits than existing merchants, will be raised by 1 percentage point from the current 2% to 3%.

The Dongbaek Plus merchant system is a program where merchants provide a 3?10% self-discount when paying with Dongbaekjeon QR payment, and the city offers not only the basic cashback but also additional cashback.

With this increase in additional cashback, customers can enjoy up to an 18% discount and cashback effect on the payment amount (up to 10% discount + 5% basic cashback + 3% additional cashback).

The status of Dongbaek Plus merchants can be checked by selecting the ‘Dongbaek＋’ tab in the Dongbaekjeon app, where location-based map information, lists, and discount details around you are also available.

▲ To expand the Dongbaek Plus merchant system, the Dongbaek Plus “You Too” event, which was temporarily operated, will now be run on a regular basis.

In this event, if a person recommends a merchant who then joins as a Dongbaek Plus merchant, the referrer will receive 20,000 KRW per merchant, and the Dongbaek Plus merchant will be supported up to 50,000 KRW for the self-discount amount incurred until the next month from the registration date.

Thanks to these efforts, Dongui University’s Uiridangil shopping district was recently designated as a Dongbaek Plus specialized street, and the number of Dongbaek Plus merchants is steadily increasing. The city plans to expand the number of merchants to 2,000 this year following the achievement of the 1,000-merchant target last year through this regular operation.

Further details about the event can be found through the Dongbaekjeon app and customer center.

▲ The Dongbaek Angel system, which was piloted to share warm feelings with neighbors during the year-end and New Year holidays and to promote pride in donations, will be operated permanently.

The Dongbaek Angel system provides a local currency policy support fund of up to 20,000 KRW to donors who donate 50,000 KRW or more via Dongbaekjeon (10,000 KRW for donations between 50,000 and 100,000 KRW, and 20,000 KRW for donations over 100,000 KRW), and promotes outstanding donors as the “Dongbaek Angel of the Month” through the Dongbaekjeon app (Dongbaek Dream).

Before introducing and operating this system, the amount raised per donation story was around 500,000 KRW, but recently it has increased to about 2 million KRW.

The city is considering introducing a related system in the first half of the year so that Dongbaek Angels can receive more additional cashback when making QR payments at Dongbaek Plus merchants. Through this, the city aims to increase the usage frequency of Dongbaek Plus merchants and Dongbaek Angels, thereby expanding support for small business owners, consumer benefits, and the donation culture.

▲ Dongbaekjeon QR remote payment will be introduced, making Dongbaekjeon payments more convenient.

Previously, payments were only possible by scanning QR codes installed externally, but now users can load QR codes sent to their phones for remote payment, and for merchants where QR payment has been made once, remote re-payment is possible through previous payment records.

For example, to pay for a child’s academy fees, the child does not need to have the parent’s Dongbaekjeon card and pay at the academy; the parent can remotely pay from home by loading the QR code or using the re-payment method.

Shin Chang-ho, Director of the Digital Economy Innovation Office of Busan City, said, “We have introduced and will operate various policies this year to create a virtuous cycle structure that provides more benefits and support to both citizens and small business owners by efficiently using a limited budget.” He added, “Although it may feel somewhat complicated, please understand it as part of our efforts to provide the maximum benefits, and we ask for your interest and participation in the Dongbaek Plus merchants, which offer even more benefits.”

Dongbaekjeon Card, Busan Local Currency.