98% of eligible Koreans apply for high fuel-cost relief fund totaling W6.11tr

The final application rate for South Korea's high fuel-cost victim support fund reached 98 percent.

According to the Ministry of Interior and Safety, about 35.4 million people — specifically 35,403,928 — had applied for the first and second rounds of the fund by the Friday, July 3 deadline of 6 p.m. That figure represents 98.0 percent of the 36,138,987 eligible recipients, defined as those in the bottom 70 percent of the income bracket.

The total amount disbursed came to 6.11 trillion won ($3.93 billion), with an average payout of about 173,000 won per person.

The first-round payments, targeting vulnerable groups including basic livelihood recipients, near-poverty households and single-parent families, drew about 3.201 million applicants — a 99.0 percent uptake rate. Total disbursements for that round reached 1.82 trillion won, averaging about 568,000 won per recipient.

Credit and debit cards were the most popular payment method, chosen by 23,527,383 applicants, or 66.5 percent of the total. Mobile and card-type local gift vouchers came second at 5,945,683 people (16.8 percent), followed by prepaid cards at 5,281,920 people (14.9 percent) and paper-type local gift vouchers at 648,942 people (1.8 percent).

By region, South Jeolla Province posted the highest application rate at 98.99 percent, followed by North Jeolla Province at 98.94 percent and South Gyeongsang Province at 98.91 percent. Seoul (96.46 percent), Gyeonggi Province (97.46 percent) and Incheon (97.70 percent) recorded comparatively lower rates.

A ministry official attributed the lower rates in the greater Seoul area to the sheer size of the eligible population there, adding that the figures were not significantly different from those seen during last year's livelihood recovery consumer coupon program.

Recipients have until midnight on Aug. 31 to use the funds, and any unused balance will be returned to the national treasury.