Gyeonggi Province has provided a total of 19.8 billion won in support for cooling costs and other expenses for vulnerable groups this year, as the region experienced record-breaking heatwaves.
On October 15, Gyeonggi Provincial Government announced that it had used 18.498 billion won from its disaster relief fund to provide 50,000 won per household in cooling cost support to a total of 369,960 households, including 325,699 basic livelihood security recipient households and 44,261 near-poverty households.
Additionally, the province used 1.3 billion won in reserve funds to support cooling costs for 7,774 senior community centers, providing 165,000 won for September, and for 50 village welfare centers designated as heat shelters, it covered monthly cooling costs of 165,000 won each for the three months from July to September. In total, 7,824 heat shelters received cooling cost support.
This initiative marks the first time that support has been extended not only to basic livelihood security recipients but also to near-poverty households. It is especially significant in that it provided practical assistance to groups who had previously been excluded from cooling cost support, such as single-parent families, grandparent-grandchild or father-child families, and people with disabilities.
Gyeonggi Province set "swift execution" as its top priority, and from July 28, households with registered bank account information received the support automatically without any separate application process.
As a result, of the total 369,960 eligible households, 297,426 received the funds immediately, while the remaining 72,534 households completed the process through phone or in-person verification. A total of 362,800 payments were made via bank transfer, and 7,160 payments were made in cash.
Han Kyungsoo, Director of Welfare Services at Gyeonggi Province, stated, "This cooling cost support was more than just financial assistance for vulnerable households who had to save even on cooling expenses during the heatwave-it served as a safety net, providing them with breathing room. Gyeonggi Province will continue to implement welfare policies that prioritize the health and lives of residents in this era of climate crisis."
Meanwhile, Gyeonggi Province Governor Kim Dongyeon met with the leadership of the Gyeonggi Province branch of the Korean Senior Citizens Association in August and promised, "This summer has been extremely hot, and we will actively support our seniors by providing emergency cooling cost support for heat shelters at senior centers and village halls, as well as for vulnerable groups, so that they can benefit from these measures."
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