Gyeonggi Province will drastically scale back or abolish the "opportunity income" policy pushed by former Governor Kim Dong-yeon. Opportunity income for artists and athletes will be halted in the second half of the year. Opportunity income for people with disabilities will be maintained only until 2028.
Jeong Du-seok, Gyeonggi Province Deputy Minister for Planning and Coordination, said in a Q&A at a briefing on the second supplementary budget on the 19th, "There was no verification of whether artists' creative activities or athletes' sports activities are correlated with cash support, so we decided to drop that part and seek other directions for support," announcing the plan to abolish opportunity income for artists and athletes.
Opportunity income for artists is a welfare policy that supports artists' sustained creative work by compensating for the social value created by artistic activities.
Eligible recipients are those age 19 or older who hold a certificate of artistic activity and are at or below 120% of the median income. In 28 cities and counties (Yongin, Goyang, and Seongnam not participating), more than 10,000 people will receive a total of 1.5 million won, split into two rounds (July–August, October) at 750,000 won each.
Project costs have been shared equally by the province and cities and counties. During budget deliberations late last year, the provincial council cut the project cost (provincial funds) from 8 billion won last year to 5.05 billion won this year.
Originally, the province considered covering the remaining project costs through a supplementary budget, but due to fiscal difficulties it excluded the item from the supplementary allocation and decided not to provide the second-round 750,000 won payment. The remaining 1.3 billion won will be returned.
Opportunity income for athletes is a program that provides 1.5 million won to more than 1,600 people, including active athletes, coaches, referees, team managers, and sports administrators who are former athletes, age 19 or older and at or below 120% of the median income. As with opportunity income for artists, 750,000 won is paid in two rounds (June, October–November). The second round of athlete opportunity income will also not be paid, and some remaining project funds will be returned.
Opportunity income for people with disabilities will, for now, have its budget executed through 2028, after which the program direction will be reviewed.
This program pays 100,000 won per month when people with disabilities verify value activities, such as health activities using a smartwatch at least twice a week for at least one hour. Those eligible to apply are age 13 to 64, classified as having a "severe disability," and at or below 120% of the median income. Currently, more than 10,600 people are participating.
The province also decided to halt climate action opportunity income rewards starting this month. More than 2 million residents participated, making the reward payments difficult to sustain, and officials judged that the policy achieved some results.
Climate action opportunity income is an environmental policy under which residents download an app and perform 16 carbon-neutral activities (climate actions) that can be practiced in daily life to receive rewards of up to 60,000 won per year in local currency, paid monthly.
Opportunity income for farmers and fishers will be maintained. Between 600,000 won and 1.8 million won will be paid to more than 199,000 farmers and fishers in 26 cities and counties. Although the total project budget was reduced from 68 billion won last year to 46 billion won, the province plans to secure the shortfall through a supplementary budget.