It was revealed that around 1.1 billion won in donations was collected in Muan County, South Jeolla Province, where the Jeju Air passenger plane disaster occurred, as part of the hometown love donation effort.
According to the Ministry of Interior and Safety on the 3rd, based on the provisional tally for the 2024 hometown love donations, a total of 1.5 billion won was collected in Muan County, three times the total donations of 500 million won in 2023. This ranks Muan County fourth among the 266 local governments nationwide in terms of total donations.
In particular, donations collected during the two days immediately following the accident on Nov. 30-31 reached about 1.1 billion won, 71% of last year's total donations. This amount was the largest among donations collected nationwide in local governments for the same period. The average daily donation amount surged to 450 times the previous level after the accident. From January last year until the day of the accident, Muan County's donation performance was about 440 million won (3,000 cases), which was about one-third of the total donations.
It appears that many citizens responded positively as posts advocating for supporting Muan through hometown love donations proliferated on internet communities and social media (SNS) following the accident. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety interpreted this as representing the public's willingness to overcome the crisis together.
A representative from the hometown love donation program in Muan County expressed gratitude for the warm hearts shown by citizens through hometown love donations, stating, “We will do our utmost to ensure that this donation, which holds special significance, is used carefully to support disaster recovery and alleviate the suffering of affected families.”
According to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, the provisional total for the 2024 hometown love donations reached 89 billion won, an increase of about 24 billion won compared to the 65 billion won total in 2023. The number of donations also increased by 50% to approximately 790,000 cases. Overall, high-value donations decreased, while contributions under 100,000 won, eligible for full tax credit, increased. The number of high-value donations of 5 million won, the maximum donation limit, decreased from 2,052 cases in 2023 to 1,435 cases in 2024. Contributions under 100,000 won rose from 510,000 to 770,000 cases in the same period.
Ko Ki-dong, Vice Minister of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety (acting Minister), expressed gratitude to the citizens for gathering great attention and warmth through hometown love donations during the national disaster situation, and stated, “We will ensure that the hometown love donation program becomes a catalyst for disaster recovery and regional revitalization.”