Dongducheon City Selects Two Additional Return Gifts for Hometown Love Donation Program

Dongducheon City in Gyeonggi Province (Mayor Park Hyungdeok) announced on October 10, 2025, that it has selected two additional local specialty return gifts after a review by the Return Gift Selection Committee for the 2025 Hometown Love Donation Program.

A view of Dongducheon City Hall. Provided by Dongducheon City.

The newly selected items are coriander (2kg) and a young radish & early cabbage set (5kg), which will be offered to donors through the 'Hometown Love eum' website starting at the end of this month.

To discover additional return gifts, the city conducted a 15-day public recruitment for return gifts and suppliers from September 10 to 24. The selection committee comprehensively evaluated the applicants based on product commercialization potential, contribution to the local economy and uniqueness, and price adequacy.

Currently, the city offers 22 types of return gifts, including rice, pork belly, traditional liquor, ceramics, camping goods, local currency, and Dongducheon tourism vouchers. With the addition of these new items, a total of 24 return gifts are now available.

In particular, the coriander and young radish & early cabbage set from the Gamaso Farming Cooperative, newly selected this time, are rich in nutrients as they are grown with natural compost, and have a mild taste and excellent aroma since no growth accelerators are used. Furthermore, the vegetables are harvested at dawn and shipped the same day to maintain freshness and quality.

A city official stated, "We will continue to discover a diverse range of high-quality return gifts to increase donor satisfaction," adding, "We will do our best to expand the sales channels for local agricultural specialties and promote Dongducheon City."

Meanwhile, the Hometown Love Donation Program allows individuals to donate to local governments other than their place of residence. The recipient local government uses the collected donations for projects that improve residents' welfare, and provides donors with tax deductions and local specialty return gifts. Individuals can donate up to 20 million won per year; donations up to 100,000 won are fully tax-deductible, while amounts exceeding that receive a 16.5% tax deduction. Return gifts are provided within 30% of the donation amount.