Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Song Mi-ryeong "Vitalizing the social and solidarity economy with basic income"

Song Mi-ryeong, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, said on the 27th, “Along with basic income for rural areas, we will revitalize the social and solidarity economy so that residents can play a role as a key player in reviving the region.”

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs reported that Minister Song visited Boeun-gun, North Chungcheong Province, the pilot project area for basic income for rural areas, inspected the progress of the project, and made this announcement.

Basic income for rural areas is a system that provides 150,000 won in local love gift certificates every month to all residents who actually live in areas selected after screening among areas with population decline at the county level. Currently, the pilot project site is a total of 17 counties, including Boeun-gun.

The social and solidarity economy is an economic activity that pursues community interests and social values ​​based on the cooperation and solidarity of members, like cooperatives, and the government is promoting the growth of the social and solidarity economy as a national task.

On this day, Minister Song held an on-site meeting at 'Cafe Stay' operated by Boeun Attic Cooperative, with People Power Party lawmaker Park Deok-heum, Boeun County Mayor Choi Jae-hyung, local residents and merchants in attendance.

Boeun Darak Cooperative is a social and solidarity economic organization established in 2024 to revitalize local commercial districts and develop regionally specialized products. In cooperation with Chungcheong University, it is developing and selling drinks using jujube, a local specialty.

Participants at the meeting raised opinions on the impact of basic income on local commercial districts and their expectations for the future.

Minister Song then visited ‘Bread Leaf Village’, a local specialty food store at Boeun Traditional Market.

This place, founded through Boeun-gun's 'Youth Local Creator Support Project', is a basic income user center that opened on the 2nd.

Minister Song also toured the ‘Gyeolchoboeun Meeting Store’, which sells local agricultural and specialty products and has a space for residents’ activities and experiences.

Here, the community of residents fostered through the Rural New Vitality Plus project displays and sells products made using local resources.

Minister Song emphasized, "We plan to actively promote collaboration within and between ministries so that various government policies and projects necessary for local youth's start-up and settlement can be linked."