Jeon Jae-soo, the Democratic Party of Korea's candidate for Busan mayor, sharply criticized the Busan Metropolitan Government's policy of cutting free meal budgets for senior citizens, saying that "food welfare for the elderly is effectively retreating." Jeon plans to restore the senior meal budget to the level it stood at before Mayor Park Heong-jun took office.
"While most local governments provide meal subsidies of 4,000 to 5,000 won at senior citizen cafeterias, Busan has been stuck at 3,500 won for four years," Jeon said on the 18th. "We can no longer neglect elderly care and food welfare."
According to data on senior cafeteria meal subsidies across metropolitan governments compiled by Jeon's campaign, Busan ranks at the bottom along with Ulsan. Most local governments, including Seoul and South Chungcheong Province, provide subsidies of more than 4,000 won. Meal delivery subsidies are also at 5,500 won in North Jeolla Province and 4,500 won in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province, with most regions exceeding 4,000 won. Busan, however, remains at the 3,500 won level for both cafeteria and delivery meals.
In February this year, the Busan Council of District Mayors and County Governors requested that the city raise senior meal subsidies by at least 500 won to bring them up to 4,000 won per meal. No plan for an increase has been announced to date.
Busan also began requiring basic-level local governments to share part of the senior meal budget starting in 2023, after previously funding it entirely through the city budget. Last year, the local government share was expanded to 50%.
As a result, Busan's senior meal budget shrank from 4.999 billion won in 2022 to 3.462 billion won this year, a drop of about 31%. Jeon's camp pointed out that "Busan is the only metropolitan government in the country whose senior meal budget has been cut by more than 10% compared with 2022."
The biggest problem, according to Jeon's camp, is that the budget cuts coincided with a sharp rise in food prices. After ingredient prices surged following the war in Ukraine, the prolonged conflict in the Middle East, rising international oil prices, and the impact of El Niño have further increased the burden on meal service providers. They added that maintaining a balanced diet at the current subsidy level is itself difficult.
The scope of coverage is also lower than in other regions. As of last year, 87.6% of senior community centers in Busan, or 2,123 facilities, provided meals — a lower share than in Gyeonggi Province, Daejeon, Gwangju, and Ulsan. The share of seniors using senior cafeterias also stood at just 12.9% of the elderly population, or 101,039 people, about half the national average.
Jeon criticized this as "the result of focusing on showy mega-projects rather than people's livelihoods." "While cutting the meal budget for vulnerable seniors, the city is pouring hundreds of billions of won into projects such as the Opera House and the Pompidou branch museum that receive no national funding," he said. "This is administration that puts political achievements ahead of people's livelihoods."
He added, "The population aged 65 and older has grown by 20% over the past five years, yet related budgets are shrinking. I will restore the senior meal budget to the level it was at before Mayor Park Heong-jun took office and bring the meal subsidy in line with reality."
