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Refugees may be eligible for consumer relief benefits in policy shift

Published: 24 Jun. 2025, 15:37 Updated: 24 Jun. 2025, 22:17

Vice Minister of the Interior and Safety Kim Min-jae, center, speaks while presiding over the first meeting of the government task force on consumer relief coupons at Government Complex Sejong in Sejong on June 23. [NEWS1]

The government is considering allowing recognized refugees in Korea to receive benefits under its 13.2 trillion won ($9.6 billion) consumer relief initiative, a shift that would mark a significant departure from previous policies that excluded them from public support programs.

Officials at the Ministry of the Interior and Safety said Tuesday that discussions are underway to determine whether individuals granted refugee status will be included in the upcoming consumer voucher program. “But discussions are ongoing, as the boundaries of eligibility remain unclear,” the ministry said in a statement.

The proposal was raised during the first meeting of a new pan-government task force overseeing the rollout of the voucher-based program, held Monday. Representatives from the Ministry of Justice’s Refugee Policy Division also participated in the meeting to explore how the policy might apply to refugees.

Officials reportedly reviewed whether to allow certain categories of refugees — such as long-term foreign residents or overseas Koreans — to receive the vouchers.

Under Korean law, refugees are defined as stateless individuals who cannot return to their country of origin due to a well-founded fear of persecution based on race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group.

The move would reverse the precedent set under the Moon Jae-in administration, which excluded refugees from pandemic-era emergency disaster relief funds distributed in May 2020. At the time, the government restricted eligibility to permanent residents and marriage migrants in households composed solely of foreigners.

Interior Ministry officials cited a Constitutional Court ruling last year as a key factor in reconsidering the eligibility framework. The court found that the government’s exclusion of refugees from Covid-19 relief payments had “violated the constitutional right to equality and lacked a reasonable basis for differential treatment.”

“We are respecting the Constitutional Court’s decision,” the ministry said.

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
BY MOON HEE-CHUL [[email protected]]