Busan District To Start Offering Local Singles Cash Subsidies To Start Dating
In an unprecedented move, Busan’s Saha-gu district has reportedly decided to start subsidizing its local residents and workers to start dating and get married.
The district council recently passed a revised supplementary budget to fund a pilot project for local singles which will kick off in October. This project will select eligible singles in the district, born between 1981 to 2001, and host a matchmaking event. The applicants will be evaluated by the district office after submitting documents and an interview.
For each couple formed through the event, the district will offer ₩500,000 KRW (about $362 USD) to each member of the pair. More subsidies will follow if they take the relationship forward. For example, if the couple are able to get their families to meet with the prospect of marriage in mind, the local government will pay each individual a further ₩1.00 million KRW (about $724 USD). If they tie the knot, Saha-gu will reward them with ₩20.0 million KRW (about $14,500 USD) in congratulatory money.
The district office will also offer a ₩30.0 million KRW (about $21,700 USD) deposit for housing or ₩800,000 KRW (about $579 USD) in monthly rent for upto five years to these couples. The total amount that each couple can get from the government could be somewhere between ₩53.0 million KRW (about $38,400 USD) to ₩71.0 million KRW (about $51,400 USD).
Saha-gu’s aim with this program is to combat the falling national birthrate, which has posed an existential threat to South Korea.
This project is designed to overcome the demographic crisis amid South Korea’s low birth rate by forming a multicultural local community in the future.
— Lee Gap Jun, Saha-gu District Head
The district plans to host this event once a month and expand this program to include foreign nationals residing or working in the area from the next year.
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