Gyeonggi opens $9.80 monthly sanitary pad stipend to foreigners

A poster reads that Gyeonggi province will provide welfare support for girls to afford sanitary products, including foreign nationals registered in the province. [GYEONGGI PROVINCE]

Gyeonggi Province is expanding its monthly sanitary pad stipends for girls between the ages of 11 and 18 to include foreign nationals.

The province will distribute 13,000 won ($9.80) each month in the form of a community currency that can only be used in registered neighborhoods. The benefit can be used at convenience stores including CU, GS25, 7-Eleven and Emart24.

The stipend has so far been exclusive to Korean nationals living and registered in specific localities within the province.

Among 31 localities, 21 – Hwaseong, Ansan, Pyeongtaek, Siheung, Gwangju, Gwangmyeong, Hanam, Gunpo, Gimpo, Icheon, Anseong, Uiwang, Yangpyeong, Yeoju, Gwacheon, Yangju, Guri, Pocheon, Dongducheon, Gapyeong and Yeoncheon – will offer such benefits this year.

The province estimates that 223,846 girls born between 2006 and 2013 will be eligible for the benefits, including around 4,500 foreign nationals.

Young adults can apply for the benefit through the official website (https://gg24.gg.go.kr/) or at the local public welfare center in their residential districts.

The application for the first half of this year will open in March.

The received or loaded cash benefits will expire at the end of the year.

“Expanding benefits for young foreign nationals is a result of the provincial effort to make sure no one is left behind,” an official from the provincial government said.

BY LEE SOO-JUNG [lee.soojung1@joongang.co.kr]