JAKARTA - South Korea’s Ministry of the Interior and Safety will include certain foreign residents in its High Oil Price Damage Support Fund, funded through a ₩26.2 trillion supplementary budget approved by the National Assembly in the week of April 11.

Vice Minister Kim Min-jae, who chairs the programme’s inter-agency task force at the Government Seoul Building in Jongno-gu, said that local governments must ensure “thorough advance preparation and a rapid response system” to deliver payments without delay.

The programme targets about 35.77 million people, or the bottom 70 percent of income earners, with payments ranging from ₩100,000 to ₩600,000 depending on region and household type. Base amounts run from ₩100,000 for metropolitan residents to ₩250,000 in 40 designated population-decline areas.

“We will work with local governments to ensure that the high oil price damage support funds are executed without disruption and fully delivered to the public,” Kim Min-jae added further.

Basic livelihood recipients, which cover around 2.85 million people, will receive ₩550,000 in metropolitan areas and up to ₩600,000 outside them, the programme’s maximum. The direct cash component accounts for ₩4.83 trillion within a wider ₩10.1 trillion oil relief package.

Foreign residents qualify if they are listed on a resident registration record alongside at least one Korean national and are enrolled in the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS). Households may also qualify if they include F-5 permanent residents, F-6 marriage migrants, or F-2-4 refugee visa holders, provided they are covered by NHIS.

Phase 1 disbursement begins April 27, targeting vulnerable groups, while Phase 2 runs from May 18 to July 3. Funds are usable until August 31 at small businesses with annual revenue below ₩3 billion.

South Korea is close to securing crude oil imports from Kazakhstan, Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan told South Korea’s national broadcaster KBS on April 12. The minister said there has been “quite some progress,” and that specific volumes and details are expected to be announced early next week following recent bilateral talks.

Last week, fifteen of South Korea’s largest oil-consuming industrial firms, mainly in the petrochemical sector, agreed to cut combined petroleum use by about 130,000 tons of oil equivalent annually (roughly 956,000 barrels) as part of a government-led energy-saving push.