Tongyeong in South Gyeongsang Province, Dongducheon in Gyeonggi Province and Geumjeong-gu in Busan have been newly added to the list of population-decline areas. This brings the number of population-decline areas designated by the government to 92 nationwide. Under the program, the government selects cities, counties and districts at risk of local extinction and supports them, and designated areas receive the Local Extinction Response Fund, administrative and fiscal special provisions, and support projects from central government ministries as a package.
Around the same time, Rep. So Byung-hoon of the National Assembly's Health and Welfare Committee said the state should fully fund hub maternity hospitals and the medical workforce for children and adolescents.
Population-decline areas are commonly explained by the gap between people moving in and moving out, and between births and deaths. Whether there is a delivery room nearby to go to when labor begins, and whether a pediatric clinic is open to see a child who runs a fever at night, determine whether people keep living in that area.
Because the three newly designated areas did not submit 2026 project plans, they will receive the base amount of 6 billion won from the Local Extinction Response Fund. In North Gyeongsang Province, all 15 cities and counties designated as population-decline areas kept their status. Yecheon County and Chilgok County were newly designated as areas of interest. By province and metropolitan city, Jeonnam-Gwangju Integrated Special City has the most, with 16 areas.
Tax benefits also follow. A special provision that gives young people a larger cut in the acquisition tax they pay when buying their first home applies in population-decline areas.
Some programs put money directly into residents' hands. The rural basic income pilot program gives residents who have registered and lived in rural and fishing areas for 30 days or more 150,000 won a month in local gift certificates. Recipients spend the certificates at neighborhood shops. The program's budget of 1.1657 trillion won was allocated from the Future Response Fund.
The same Future Response Fund has drawn controversy as a 'slush fund.' Critics say money went to places such as official residences for ministers and vice ministers. The spending records include 100 billion won in bonuses for public institutions and 5.7 billion won for official residences of ministers and vice ministers. The Future Response Fund is a fund with a different name from the Local Extinction Response Fund.
Minister of the Interior and Safety Yun Ho-jung said the government would concentrate pan-government support suited to local conditions. Each of the 92 areas has its own circumstances. This is clear just from the fact that seaside Tongyeong, Dongducheon in northern Gyeonggi Province and Geumjeong-gu, an autonomous district within a metropolitan city, appear on the same list.
With this designation, residents of the three areas now live in areas that receive the fund and special provisions. How that 6 billion won will be spent will become clear in the first project plan each area submits.
