"Go ahead and eat X"... Uljin County Residents Hang ‘Banners of Fury’ After 300,000-Won-Per-Person Livelihood Support Payment Is Scrapped

[Financial News] Public sentiment in Uljin County, North Gyeongsang Province, is worsening after a 300,000-won-per-person livelihood support payment that the county had planned to distribute before Chuseok was scrapped when the county council cut the budget.
The development comes amid a series of cases in which cash-based support programs pursued by local government heads have failed to clear local councils and collapsed.
According to News 1 on September 10, the Uljin-gun Council’s Budget and Accounts Special Committee completely cut the approximately 14 billion won budget for the “operating budget for the county residents’ livelihood stabilization support program,” which was to fund the payment, on September 7. The cut funds were transferred to reserve funds.
During discussions on the budget proposal, four People Power Party council members reportedly opposed the payment, while three independent council members supported it.
The cut was finalized without changes at the second plenary session of the 294th regular session on September 8. The three independent county council members did not attend the plenary session.
Residents who observed the plenary session expected a specific explanation for the budget cut, but no related remarks were made. Some residents strongly protested after the meeting ended.
After the payment—amounting to 1.2 million won for a four-person household—was scrapped, residents began putting up banners criticizing the cut throughout the town and posting protest messages on the Uljin-gun Council’s website bulletin board.
One resident reportedly questioned on the council’s public bulletin board what grounds there were for cutting the payment in the name of fiscal soundness when the county’s tax revenue was not lower than that of other local governments. Critics also said the decision appeared to be little more than a power struggle with the independent county governor.
The Uljin Social Policy Research Institute and the Uljin Chapter of the National Coalition for the Rural Basic Income Movement, both local civic groups, issued a statement on September 7, saying, "Livelihood stabilization payments and basic income are not charity or gifts," and arguing that they are "social investments to revive the local economy and protect residents’ economic foundations."
They demanded that the Uljin-gun Council explain the grounds for determining that the budget was unnecessary for county residents.

[email protected] Seong Min-seo Reporter