Local Government That Created 'Single Men and Women Day'... 20 Million Won Celebration Money for Marriage Completion

Budget Allocated for 'Single Men and Women Meeting Day' in Saha-gu, Busan
Full Support from Meeting Expenses to Housing Assistance Provided

Busan Saha-gu is attracting attention by promoting the ‘Singles Meeting Day,’ which provides congratulatory marriage money and jeonse (key money deposit) support when unmarried men and women successfully get married.

On the 22nd, Busan Saha-gu announced that the budget for the ‘Singles Meeting Day for Domestic and Foreign Unmarried Men and Women’ event scheduled for October this year was included in the first supplementary budget proposal for 2024, which was passed by the district council on the 17th.

This event will be conducted primarily for domestic participants as a pilot project this year. The target group is those born between 1981 and 2001 who are registered residents or work in Saha-gu.

A Saha-gu official said, “We plan to conduct the event on a trial basis this October and expand the project to include foreigners from next year, holding it once a month.” There are 2,000 foreign students and workers, and 1,600 multicultural families residing in Saha-gu.

Participants will be selected through document screening, and then their personalities will be assessed through interviews to increase the likelihood of successful couple matching.

The most important feature of this event is that it supports the entire process from dating to marriage by providing participants with meeting expenses, formal meeting (sang-gyeon-rye) costs, congratulatory marriage money, and housing support. Once matched as a couple, each person will receive 500,000 KRW as pocket money, and 1,000,000 KRW per person will be provided for the formal meeting. If marriage occurs, 20,000,000 KRW will be given as congratulatory money, and when securing a jeonse house after marriage, either 30,000,000 KRW for the jeonse deposit or monthly rent of 800,000 KRW (up to 5 years) will be supported.

While some regions like Hadong-gun in Gyeongnam provide marriage encouragement money to young people, it is rare for local governments to support congratulatory marriage money through matchmaking projects they organize.

Saha-gu stated that this year’s budget only covers the costs for the meeting day event and meeting expenses, but next year’s main budget will include funds related to the formal meeting, marriage, and jeonse support.