There is a project people are willing to shave their heads to win. In Sancheong County, South Gyeongsang Province, a head-shaving protest was held demanding that the county be selected for the rural basic income pilot project. In neighboring Hapcheon County, 4,484 residents launched a campaign to enact a rural basic income ordinance through a resident initiative, and Uiryeong County is refining the application it will submit to the government's open call. Three small counties in South Gyeongsang have each stepped forward in their own way over a single open call.
The government is selecting the areas that will run the rural basic income pilot project through an open call. Not every county that applies will be chosen. Because the basic income under the pilot project goes to residents living in the selected counties, the result each county office receives from the open call is directly tied to the household finances of every individual resident.
Uiryeong County has presented this open call as its second attempt.
One of the grounds the county puts forward is the regional development index. Uiryeong ranks 153rd nationwide on this index, placing it in roughly the bottom 4%. In an open call that picks places in need of support, this low ranking is used to explain the reason for applying.
In Hapcheon, residents have taken action. A resident initiative is a system in which residents collect signatures and directly petition the local council to enact an ordinance, without having to wait for the county head or council members to put the item on the agenda. 4,484 Hapcheon residents chose this route. Separately from the administration's preparations for the open call, a demand to fix basic income in place as a local rule has come from the residents' side.
Sancheong stepped forward with a head-shaving protest. From the protest side came voices saying that county residents urgently need an income safety net. Head-shaving is usually seen at sites where people try to block a policy, but in Sancheong it was used as a demand to be given a policy.
Some places are also putting forward extra money they would add on top. Some rural local governments have said they would add 20,000 won or 50,000 won from their own funds to the base amount of 150,000 won. Which county will add how much, and whether the money will be paid every month, will become clear only once each county's open call plan is made public.
Rural basic income involves welfare, regional decline and the local economy all at once. It is cash support that props up residents' lives, it is one of the few policies that counties worried about decline can hold on to, and if the money is spent at shops and markets within the county, it can lead to sales for local businesses. That is also why county offices and residents in Sancheong, Hapcheon and Uiryeong are throwing their weight behind the same open call in different ways.
When the pilot project areas are announced, it will be decided which of Uiryeong, Hapcheon and Sancheong will have residents receiving basic income. In Hapcheon, 4,484 residents signed to directly petition for the enactment of an ordinance.
