Budgets allocated by local governments to food donation support centers vary by as much as 16-fold across the country, a disparity critics attribute to a law that leaves national funding obligations entirely discretionary.
Under the Act on Promotion of Food Donation, the minister of health and welfare and provincial governors may designate national and regional food donation support centers, according to the National Assembly and other sources.
Whether the central government provides operating and project costs to those centers — and how much — is not legally mandated, remaining a discretionary provision under the law.
As a result, budgets, staffing and service levels at support centers vary widely depending on the fiscal conditions of each local government.
According to the National Assembly Research Service, the average budget per support center stood at 314.24 million won ($206,000) in Seoul and 20.25 million won in Busan — a gap of up to 15.5 times. Twelve of 17 metropolitan and provincial governments, or 70.6 percent, fell below the national average of 74.21 million won per center.
The funding gap has produced severe staffing shortages and uneven workloads. Staff at support centers handled an average of 189 cases per person annually nationwide, but the figure reached 501 in Busan and 528 in South Chungcheong Province — far above the national average.
Logistical imbalances outside the greater Seoul area are also serious. Over the past five years, 51.2 percent of all donated food — totaling 646.2 billion won — was concentrated in the metropolitan area, and 44.7 percent of refrigerated and cold-storage vehicles were similarly clustered there.
In response, Rep. Bok Gi-wang of the Democratic Party of Korea introduced a partial amendment to the Act on Promotion of Food Donation.
The bill would add a new paragraph to Article 7 requiring the central government to subsidize at least 50 percent of the operating and project costs of national and regional food donation support centers.
If passed, the amendment is expected to provide a stable funding base for food donation support centers nationwide regardless of local government finances, narrowing the gap in food welfare services across regions.
"Donations come from everyone's hearts, but the state must take responsibility for the delivery system," Bok said. "I will establish that delivery system as a national responsibility so that the warmth of the people does not stop at regional borders."
thlee@heraldcorp.com
