After Marriage and Having Children, '100 Million Plus 40 Million More'... This Place Unveils 'Yeongkkeul' Measures

Up to 140 Million Won in Support for Marriage and Childcare in Okcheon
Incheon and Taean Also Offer 100 Million Won for Childbirth and Childcare

The appearance of Okcheon Integrated Welfare Center operated by Okcheon County. Provided by Okcheon County

Local governments (LGUs) are increasingly offering support measures exceeding 100 million won to overcome the low birthrate problem.

Among them, Okcheon-gun in Chungbuk announced on the 21st that it will implement the '140 million Jump-up Project,' which provides up to 144 million won in support throughout the life cycle when young people marry, have children, and raise them. This amount combines various incentives supported by national and provincial funds along with county projects.

The county provides newlywed couples residing in the area with 5 million won in marriage settlement funds over four years and an additional 1 million won for loan interest related to wedding expenses. They can also prepare a lump sum of 18 million won by subscribing to the Chungbuk Happy Marriage Savings.

Pregnancy and childbirth support continues with medical expenses of 3 million won for high-risk pregnant women and 1.4 million won for infertile couples, along with 10 million won in childbirth and childcare allowances and 2 million won in first meeting vouchers (Ba-u-cheo).

Childcare and education support include scholarships of 500,000 won per child for families with three or more children, child allowances (9.6 million won), and parental benefits (17 million won). Additionally, entrance celebration money, club activity support funds, driver’s license acquisition fees, and military enlistment support funds are provided sequentially according to school age from elementary to university.

Chungbuk Okcheon-gun announced that it will provide up to 144 million KRW in support throughout the life cycle for young people who get married, have children, and raise them. Okcheon-gun.

Incheon was the first among local governments to announce a '100 million won support' policy to address the low birthrate issue. Since last year, Incheon City has been fully implementing the childbirth policy '100 Million Plus iDream,' which provides a total of 100 million won in support for children born in Incheon until they turn 18 years old. This includes 72 million won for parental benefits, child allowances, and childcare fees; 8.4 million won with 1.2 million won annually from ages 1 to 7; 19.8 million won with 150,000 won monthly from ages 8 to 18; and an additional 500,000 won for transportation expenses for pregnant women over 12 weeks, totaling 100 million won in uninterrupted support until age 18.

Children born this year in Taean-gun, Chungnam, can also receive support exceeding 100 million won per child. According to the county, the government and metropolitan budgets allocated for children include cumulative 73.7 million won per child for parental benefits, child allowances, childcare fees, and elementary to high school education support. In addition, the county plans to provide an extra 29 million won in county funds per child born in Taean through its own policies such as the 'Taean iDream Allowance.'

In the private sector, Booyoung Group attracted attention with a groundbreaking support measure of providing 100 million won per child. Since February last year, Booyoung Group has been offering an incentive of 100 million won per child to employees with children born after 2021. Ssangbangwool Group started a childbirth incentive program last January 1 for employees with over five years of service who have children, providing 30 million won for the first child, 30 million won for the second, and 40 million won for the third, totaling 100 million won cumulatively upon childbirth.