Minister Yoon Ho-jung: "Donate 100,000 Won to Hometown Fund for Full Tax Credit and 30,000 Won Benefit... Aiming for 500 Billion Won"

[Joo Young-jin's News Briefing]

When quoting this interview, please clearly credit the program name "SBS <Joo Young-jin's News Briefing>." Copyright belongs to SBS.

■ Broadcast: SBS <Joo Young-jin's News Briefing> Mon–Fri (14:00–15:20)
■ Host: Anchor Joo Young-jin
■ Guest: Yoon Ho-jung, Minister of the Interior and Safety
--------------------------------------------

● Interview with Minister of the Interior and Safety Yoon Ho-jung

"Hometown Love Donation Awards evaluated regional fundraising performance, promotion, return gifts, and projects"
"Hometown Love Donation System enables direct support for local economies"
"Hometown love donations reached 151.5 billion won last year... expecting to achieve 500 billion won"
"Hometown Love Donation System achieves four goals in one stroke... hope people visit the platform ahead of Chuseok"
"Promoting the 'Social Solidarity Economy'... hometown residents uniting to resolve care and housing issues"
"'Framework Act on Social Solidarity Economy' is an upgrade of the Saemaul Undong... a way to prosper together"
"Completing prosecution reform through the Serious Crime Investigation Office... will do our best to uphold social justice"
--------------------------------------------

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: Looking at the screen, you may have already guessed it. Minister of the Interior and Safety Yoon Ho-jung is here with us today. Welcome.

▶ Yoon Ho-jung / Minister of the Interior and Safety: Hello. It has been a while.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: It has been a while. You must be very busy.

▶ Yoon Ho-jung / Minister of the Interior and Safety: Thank you for inviting me.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: Isn't the scope of work under the Minister of the Interior and Safety currently almost the broadest? How is it?

▶ Yoon Ho-jung / Minister of the Interior and Safety: My defensive coverage is quite wide. In that sense, it is somewhat similar to football player Kim Min-jae.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: Similar coverage to Kim Min-jae. Whether it rains or a typhoon strikes, you are there, right?

▶ Yoon Ho-jung / Minister of the Interior and Safety: There are disaster and safety issues, but beyond that, we are also handling the AI transition by succeeding digital government initiatives toward an AI democratic government. In addition, we oversee local administration, local autonomy, local finance, and local economies. Because of that, we handle balanced regional development, including the '5 Mega-regions and 3 Special Self-Governing Provinces.'

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: And on top of that, the police.

▶ Yoon Ho-jung / Minister of the Interior and Safety: Yes. Police, fire services, and to add further, even the general administrative affairs of the government.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: The role of general affairs manager for the government.

▶ Yoon Ho-jung / Minister of the Interior and Safety: A general affairs role. Such things...

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: Minister Yoon, you must be extremely busy.

▶ Yoon Ho-jung / Minister of the Interior and Safety: My hair has turned completely gray.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: Indeed. It really looks like it has grayed a lot. Earlier, before coming to our studio today, it seems you handled an important schedule this morning. We have introduced it often during this hour; there was an awards ceremony today for the Hometown Love Donation System, right?

▶ Yoon Ho-jung / Minister of the Interior and Safety: Co-hosted by SBS and the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, the Hometown Love Grand Prize awards ceremony was held.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: Which regions received the grand prize today?

▶ Yoon Ho-jung / Minister of the Interior and Safety: Several places—Goheung, Yeongju...

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: Yeongju.

▶ Yoon Ho-jung / Minister of the Interior and Safety: And Anseong received the grand prizes.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: How are these local governments selected for the grand prize in connection with the Hometown Love Donation System, and based on what criteria?

▶ Yoon Ho-jung / Minister of the Interior and Safety: The judging committee evaluated everything. First, there must be a strong record of raising substantial donations. In addition, they looked at how well plans were established to achieve that—such as effective public relations and the return gifts. They also evaluated return gift planning. Furthermore, people can donate directly to a region, but they can also donate to specific projects planned by that region. For instance, in the case of Goheung, they lacked medical services for children and adolescents; there was no dedicated doctor and no hospital.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: There were no hospitals and no doctors.

▶ Yoon Ho-jung / Minister of the Interior and Safety: Using these donations, they recruited a specialist in child and adolescent medicine and started medical treatments.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: They gathered the funds, invited a doctor, and used the money to pay the doctor's salary.

▶ Yoon Ho-jung / Minister of the Interior and Safety: When they asked, 'We will pursue this project, so please donate,' many people across the country—some from Goheung, but many others who felt 'this is a worthy cause'—contributed, and the funds were used accordingly. For example, in Anseong, there were children with disabilities who wished to climb Hallasan Mountain.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: Not an easy task, but a true dream.

▶ Yoon Ho-jung / Minister of the Interior and Safety: When they appealed, 'Please donate to help make this dream come true,' people contributed to that as well. With such diverse ideas...

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: That is wonderful. Donating toward dreams.

▶ Yoon Ho-jung / Minister of the Interior and Safety: Local governments that created diverse ways for people to express their love for hometowns and engaged in fundraising received the awards.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: Earlier, when discussing the scope of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, you mentioned balanced regional development. Regarding this idea of the Hometown Love Donation System, some viewers may already be participating, but many may still be unaware. Could you explain what kind of system it is?

▶ Yoon Ho-jung / Minister of the Interior and Safety: Under the Hometown Love Donation System, there is an official website created by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety where people can donate.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: People can visit the Ministry's website or access it there.

▶ Yoon Ho-jung / Minister of the Interior and Safety: There is a dedicated system, private platforms have also been established, and people can also make donations directly at bank counters such as NongHyup. If you donate 100,000 won, you receive a full tax deduction for the entire 100,000 won. For amounts between 100,000 won and 200,000 won, a 44% tax deduction applies. For donations from above 200,000 won up to 20 million won, a 16.5% tax deduction is provided. In addition, donors can receive return gifts worth 30% of their donation amount—meaning 30,000 won for a 100,000 won donation.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: 30,000 won.

▶ Yoon Ho-jung / Minister of the Interior and Safety: For 200,000 won...

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: 60,000 won.

▶ Yoon Ho-jung / Minister of the Interior and Safety: You can receive return gifts worth 60,000 won. However, some people choose not to accept the return gift. That carries another meaning, where they just want to donate everything without receiving anything in return.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: Like saying, "I donated 200,000 won and could receive 60,000 won, but I will decline it."

▶ Yoon Ho-jung / Minister of the Interior and Safety: You might think it is fine not to receive it, but because those return gifts consist of products made by local small business owners, agricultural and livestock producers, or processed food manufacturers in the beloved hometown, receiving them directly supports those producers and the local economy. It holds various meaningful dimensions.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: So, for example, if my hometown is in Gangwon Province, I can donate to my hometown in Gangwon Province, and if I donate 100,000 won, I can receive 30,000 won worth of local specialties like corn. If I donate 200,000 won, 60,000 won worth. But can this be done not only for one's hometown, but also anywhere in Seoul or Gyeonggi Province?

▶ Yoon Ho-jung / Minister of the Interior and Safety: You can donate to any region nationwide, as long as it is not the area where you currently reside. For example, Dong District in Daejeon, which I recall won a gold or silver prize today—I believe they received gold...

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: Dong District, Daejeon.

▶ Yoon Ho-jung / Minister of the Interior and Safety: They have the famous Sungsimdang bakery there.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: Nationally famous.

▶ Yoon Ho-jung / Minister of the Interior and Safety: Normally, you have to travel and wait in line to buy Sungsimdang bread. But through the Hometown Love Donation System, if you donate 100,000 won, 30,000 won worth of Sungsimdang bread can be delivered straight to your home.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: Receiving it right at home.

▶ Yoon Ho-jung / Minister of the Interior and Safety: You can receive it right at home. It costs less because you do not need to take the KTX train back and forth. So there are people who order and enjoy the bread this way.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: In a way, the Hometown Love Donation System feels like a balanced regional development program created together by the government and the public.

▶ Yoon Ho-jung / Minister of the Interior and Safety: That is correct. Japan has a similar system, where donations reached around 500 billion—meaning about 1 trillion yen—in recent years.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: That translates to about 7 trillion won in Korean currency...

▶ Yoon Ho-jung / Minister of the Interior and Safety: Nearly 10 trillion won. So...

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: Even if not an exact figure.

▶ Yoon Ho-jung / Minister of the Interior and Safety: Considering our country's population, it means we could potentially reach up to 500 billion won if we do our best.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: What is the current status, roughly?

▶ Yoon Ho-jung / Minister of the Interior and Safety: Last year, it was 151.5 billion won.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: Then it has immense room to grow in the future.

▶ Yoon Ho-jung / Minister of the Interior and Safety: It can grow several times larger. In achieving the remarkable result of 151.5 billion won, SBS and the Korean Association of Certified Public Tax Accountants...

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: The Korean Association of Certified Public Tax Accountants.

▶ Yoon Ho-jung / Minister of the Interior and Safety: Together signed an agreement with the Ministry of the Interior and Safety last year. We joined hands on a campaign to widely promote the Hometown Love Donation System to the public, fostering balanced regional development and revitalizing local areas suffering from the risk of regional extinction, and those results are now showing.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: The Hometown Love Donation System should truly be promoted more actively. For viewers, donating 100,000 won to their hometown means receiving a 30,000 won return gift.

▶ Yoon Ho-jung / Minister of the Interior and Safety: Since you receive a 100,000 won tax deduction, for donations up to 100,000 won, you effectively gain about 30,000 won in benefit.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: And the 100,000 won contributions accumulate to help develop one's hometown, assisting local farmers cultivating or selling produce, as well as food processors. It truly feels like a great policy. I hope the Hometown Love Donation System expands dramatically during your tenure, Minister Yoon.

▶ Yoon Ho-jung / Minister of the Interior and Safety: I will do my best.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: Do you have a specific target amount?

▶ Yoon Ho-jung / Minister of the Interior and Safety: As I mentioned earlier, our primary goal is to reach 500 billion won.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: You explained the Hometown Love Donation System very well. If someone who did not know about it is hesitating whether to participate, what would you say to them if they asked, 'Is there such a thing? What should I do?'

▶ Yoon Ho-jung / Minister of the Interior and Safety: This is a policy that achieves three or four goals in one stroke. It benefits the donor, helps the hometown, and assists local residents working hard in economic activities—making it three benefits in one. Furthermore, it supports government efforts for balanced regional development and overcoming the population decline crisis, making it four benefits in one. So please participate actively. Moreover, Chuseok is now three weeks away. Chuseok is a time when we reflect on our hometowns. I encourage everyone to take this opportunity to visit the 'Hometown Love e-Eum' platform and express their love for their hometowns to their heart's content.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: The 'Hometown Love e-Eum' platform.

▶ Yoon Ho-jung / Minister of the Interior and Safety: I hope many will visit and show their love for their hometowns.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: Listening to you, Minister Yoon, it seems Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Song Mi-ryung would also be very passionate about this initiative.

▶ Yoon Ho-jung / Minister of the Interior and Safety: She is extremely interested in it.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: Understood. We have discussed the Hometown Love Donation System in detail. Regarding the Framework Act on Social Solidarity Economy, I remember seeing Democratic Party lawmakers rejoicing and posting photos on social media when this bill was passed recently. The name 'Framework Act on Social Solidarity Economy' itself sounds very beautiful. This is a bill you have also had a deep interest in, Minister Yoon.

▶ Yoon Ho-jung / Minister of the Interior and Safety: In fact, I drafted the bill myself 12 years ago and introduced it as the primary sponsor four times. Each time, it was automatically scrapped when parliamentary sessions ended without passage. But finally, it has been passed. If I may say so, after becoming Minister of the Interior and Safety, looking at the bill I had proposed, it seemed other ministries did not show much interest if left to them. So I decided our ministry would directly oversee this policy, turning it into a policy led by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and ultimately getting it passed.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: What is the core of the Framework Act on Social Solidarity Economy?

▶ Yoon Ho-jung / Minister of the Interior and Safety: As many know, there are various enterprise models related to the social solidarity economy, such as cooperatives, social enterprises, self-sufficiency enterprises, and village enterprises.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: Cooperatives, village enterprises, and social enterprises.

▶ Yoon Ho-jung / Minister of the Interior and Safety: Social enterprises and the like. Because these enterprises struggle when operating in isolation, the act unites them so they can help each other, groups them at the local community level, and enables them to take root locally. It builds an ecosystem so that products reflecting social values created by these enterprises can be widely distributed and consumed, whether in that region or elsewhere, and helps them establish themselves through financial support when necessary. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety will establish the overall comprehensive plan and oversee support operations. As I mentioned, the Ministry has many collaborative projects with local governments. If our ministry proposes revitalizing the social solidarity economy to each local government and works together, we expect great results. Recently, we established and announced a comprehensive plan for the social solidarity economy: expanding the share of the social solidarity economy to about 6% of GDP and its employment share to about 9% by 2030. That is roughly the average level in advanced European nations. We announced a plan to reach the level of advanced European countries. While the Hometown Love Donation System involves people who left their hometowns helping through donations...

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: Helping through donations.

▶ Yoon Ho-jung / Minister of the Interior and Safety: The social solidarity economy refers to an economy where residents remaining in the hometown unite to resolve diverse local issues one by one—such as caregiving, housing, or various services—fostering self-help, self-reliance, and cooperation.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: I see. I can fully feel how meaningful and rewarding this is to you from your explanation.

▶ Yoon Ho-jung / Minister of the Interior and Safety: In simple terms, think of the Saemaul Undong you are familiar with. You can think of it as upgrading the Saemaul Undong for the 21st century.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: The Framework Act on Social Solidarity Economy.

▶ Yoon Ho-jung / Minister of the Interior and Safety: That is how you can view it.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: Understood. If the past Saemaul Undong was about 'living well,' this is even more meaningful...

▶ Yoon Ho-jung / Minister of the Interior and Safety: Living well together.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: Living well together.

▶ Yoon Ho-jung / Minister of the Interior and Safety: Exactly that.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: Yes, understood. That explanation makes it very clear. It is a pity that time is running short. Minister Yoon, you will have to join us again later. In October, the Prosecutors' Office will finally be abolished, and the Police and the Serious Crime Investigation Office will be launched, right?

▶ Yoon Ho-jung / Minister of the Interior and Safety: It launches on October 2.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: Are preparations proceeding smoothly?

▶ Yoon Ho-jung / Minister of the Interior and Safety: Preparations are proceeding without a hitch according to plan. Through the Serious Crime Investigation Office, we will complete prosecution reform and ensure that investigations into serious crimes previously handled by prosecutors are conducted smoothly, doing our utmost so that our nation's social justice remains completely steadfast.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: Regarding the relocation of the National Police Agency and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family to Sejong City, which seems to have been announced yesterday, are preparations for that going well too?

▶ Yoon Ho-jung / Minister of the Interior and Safety: During this regular session of the National Assembly, we will amend the Special Act on Sejong City. Once the legal revision is completed, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family will, starting early next year...

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: Move down right away.

▶ Yoon Ho-jung / Minister of the Interior and Safety: We will prepare office buildings and begin the relocation process.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: Understood. This was an interview with Minister of the Interior and Safety Yoon Ho-jung. Please come back again.

▶ Yoon Ho-jung / Minister of the Interior and Safety: Please invite me.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: Thank you very much for speaking with us today.

※ Detailed content can be viewed in the video.
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.