The public postpartum care center in Jecheon, North Chungcheong Province, opened in July 2025. In the little more than a year since it opened, about 330 people have used it. Jecheon was selected for an investment project under the Local Extinction Response Fund (지방소멸대응기금) in 2022, and it took three years of administrative procedures and construction to open the center. The fund, which the government sends to population-decline areas at 1 trillion won a year, is now in its fifth year and has reached the halfway point of its 10-year plan.
The question raised at the halfway point is whether people stay where the money has gone.
The debate over the fund's effectiveness flared up again as it reached the halfway point. Critics said local populations shrank even though large sums were spent, and calls grew louder for reorganizing the administrative system and merging local governments, on the grounds that individual cities and counties can hardly hold off regional extinction on their own. Whether the fund stopped at putting up a building or changed the lives of the people who use that building was a separate question that needed to be examined over the five years.
For a postpartum care center, the work begins after it is built. Staff must be on hand every day to care for mothers and newborns, and operating costs come due every year. The record of about 330 users shows that the facility has kept running steadily since it opened. How many of them are Jecheon residents, and whether families expecting a child decided to stay in the area because of the facility, will only become clear after a closer look at the usage records.
On the same day, Jeonbuk State (전북특별자치도) and Busan said they had each secured an additional 3.4 billion won from the fund.
Jeonbuk will use the money for housing for families in its rural schooling program (농촌유학) and for young people and newlyweds. The aim is to provide homes for families who have moved to rural schools with their children. Busan will put the money into youth employment and the regeneration of vacant houses.
With money it received earlier from the fund, Busan has run projects to develop young local creators and promote workations. The city also uses the fund to operate its Busan-style 365 Open Hourly Daycare Centers, which stay open year-round so that dual-income parents are not pressed for time.
Renovated vacant houses and housing for newlyweds do not end with completion, and success depends on how many years the families who move in stay. By contrast, postpartum care centers and daycare centers become part of residents' daily lives the moment they have users.
It is easy to judge the fund's success by the number of buildings. Photos of completion ceremonies remain, and budget execution rates go into reports. From the residents' side, the yardstick is different. Whether a new mother no longer has to drive for hours to a care center in a big city, and whether a child who came to the countryside through the rural schooling program stays at that school after the semester ends, are the report card of daily life.
The fund has five years left. The new 3.4 billion won that Jeonbuk and Busan each received will flow into vacant houses, housing for newlyweds and youth employment support. At the next milestone, the number of households living in those homes will be the fund's report card.
