"Children Starving While Parents Spend": Child Meal Cards Misused at Bars and PC Cafes

Child meal cards, provided to support the nutrition of children from low-income families, have been found to be widely misused by parents to purchase alcohol and cigarettes, or even as a means to siphon cash through fraudulent transactions.

A joint investigation by the Government Policy Coordination Office's Anti-Corruption Initiative and the Ministry of Health and Welfare revealed numerous cases of misuse across the country, exploiting loopholes in the system.

The most significant issue was the use of these funds for purposes other than intended.

Unlike convenience stores, some general supermarkets lack systems to restrict purchases by item category. One parent was caught using their elementary school child's meal card to purchase 270,000 won worth of items, including cigarettes and detergent, in a single transaction.

Furthermore, 55 parents were found to have siphoned off funds by making fraudulent transactions at businesses they operated themselves, embezzling a total of 170 million won.

An analysis of card transaction records from the first half of last year showed that more than 14% of all child meal card usage occurred at establishments unrelated to meals, such as cafes, private academies (hagwons), hair salons, bars, and PC cafes.

Transactions totaling 9.3 billion won were also made during late-night hours between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., times when it is difficult to consider the purchases as being for a child's meal.

The lax oversight by local governments has also come under fire.

Shocking cases were uncovered where parents continued to use their children's meal cards for their own expenses even after the children had been separated from them due to child abuse, or even after the children had passed away.

On the other hand, children who truly need the benefits often fail to use the cards due to the fear of social stigma or difficulties in using the system, resulting in 17.1 billion won in allocated funds expiring unused annually.

The government has decided to overhaul the payment system by making it impossible to purchase inappropriate items such as alcohol and cigarettes, introducing item-based payment restrictions at all general supermarkets, and banning late-night transactions.

The government also announced that it will encourage children to use the cards by providing balance notifications via text messages.

Reported by Lee Hyeon-yeong | Video by Seo Byeong-uk | Graphics by Yook Do-hyun | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.