Yang Boo-nam Urges Inclusion of "Senior Center Side Dish Ingredient Costs" in Supplementary Budget as Presidential Pledge

Amendments to the Senior Welfare Act and Enforcement Decree
Legal Basis for National Funding Established

High Inflation and Local Fiscal Crisis
Widening "Dining Table Gap" for Seniors
Urgent Need for Nationwide Government Support

Boo Nam Yang, Member of the National Assembly

Boo-Nam Yang, Member of the National Assembly (Gwangju Seo-gu Eul) from the Democratic Party of Korea, urged on March 31 that the supplementary budget for this year must include funding for side dish ingredients at senior centers in order to implement President Lee Jae-myung's key pledge of "providing lunch at senior centers five days a week."

Since the Democratic Party of Korea announced "providing lunch at senior centers five days a week" as a 2024 general election pledge, the party passed an amendment to the Senior Welfare Act in December of the same year, establishing a legal basis for meal support.

Subsequently, during the deliberation of the 2026 main national budget at the end of last year (2025), the National Assembly's Health and Welfare Committee approved an increase in the budget for side dish ingredients. However, the Ministry of Economy and Finance opposed its inclusion in the main budget, citing "insufficient legal grounds for support," and as a result, it was not reflected in the final budget.

Recently, however, the Ministry of Economy and Finance revised the Enforcement Decree of the Subsidy Management Act, allowing subsidies for side dish ingredients to be provided regardless of remaining balances. This regulatory change has made it possible for the government to allocate the necessary budget.

Assemblyman Yang stressed that "due to high inflation and local governments' fiscal difficulties, there are significant challenges at the field level, making national funding urgently needed."

Currently, senior centers receive national funding only for heating/cooling and rice costs. For side dish ingredients, they must either save leftover funds from previous support or rely on seniors' personal contributions.

Even among local governments, only a few with surplus budgets are able to provide their own support, which remains far from sufficient.

Assemblyman Yang pointed out, "Most local governments, including Gwangju, cannot afford to provide five meals a week due to insufficient tax revenue," and emphasized that "as differences in local fiscal conditions create disparities and welfare inequality in seniors' meal environments, nationwide government support is desperately needed."

Assemblyman Yang directly explained the necessity of supporting side dish ingredient costs to the Democratic Party's floor leadership, emphasizing that it must be immediately reflected in the upcoming supplementary budget.

As a concrete standard for the supplementary budget, he proposed the previously agreed-upon increase of 49.5 billion won in side dish ingredient costs, as decided by the National Assembly's Health and Welfare Committee, urging that the budget be swiftly allocated considering the execution rate for the remaining period.

Assemblyman Yang emphasized, "Reflecting this in the supplementary budget is directly linked to President Lee Jae-myung's vision of the 'National Responsibility for Seniors' policy, and supporting side dish ingredient costs is the most tangible of the pledges tailored to the era of centenarians." He added, "Now that the legal basis is fully established, we will do our utmost at the National Assembly level to ensure the budget is included in this year's supplementary budget and to swiftly fulfill our promise to seniors."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.