Rep. Bok Gi-wang of the Democratic Party of Korea [provided by the lawmaker's office]
Rep. Bok Gi-wang of the Democratic Party of Korea [provided by the lawmaker's office]

Rep. Bok Gi-wang of the Democratic Party of Korea, who represents Asan-gap in South Chungcheong Province, said Wednesday he had introduced a bill to amend the Act on Promotion of Food Donation to fix severe regional disparities in how donated food reaches people in need.

Under current law, the minister of health and welfare and provincial governors may designate national and regional food donation support centers. Whether the state subsidizes those centers' operating and project costs — and by how much — remains a discretionary provision with no legal mandate. As a result, center budgets, staffing levels and service quality vary dramatically depending on each local government's fiscal condition.

Statistics from the National Assembly Research Service show the average budget per support center stood at 314.24 million won ($206,000) in Seoul and just 20.25 million won in Busan — a gap of up to 15.5 times. Twelve of the country's 17 metropolitan and provincial governments, or 70.6 percent, fell below the national average of 74.21 million won per center.

Those funding gaps translate into staff shortages and uneven workloads. Center workers nationwide handled an average of 189 cases per person per year, but the figure reached 501 in Busan and 528 in South Chungcheong Province — roughly 2.7 times the national average. Over the past five years, 51.2 percent of all donated food by value, or 646.2 billion won, was concentrated in the Greater Seoul area, and 44.7 percent of refrigerated and frozen delivery vehicles were also clustered there, pointing to a serious imbalance in distribution infrastructure outside the capital region.

Major countries have already addressed such disparities by enshrining national subsidies in law. Britain codified support for local government food bank operations under the Local Government Act of 1972 and the Welfare Reform Act of 2012, while Canada established a Food Infrastructure Fund to expand cold-chain distribution networks.

The amendment would require the state to cover at least 50 percent of the operating and project costs of both national and regional food donation support centers. If passed, the bill is expected to give centers across the country a stable financial foundation regardless of local government finances, helping to close the gap in food welfare access based on where people live.

"We will make the state responsible for the delivery system so that the warmth of the Korean people does not stop at regional borders," Bok said.


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