▲ This photo shows a gas station in Seoul's southwestern district of Guro on May 19, 2026. (Yonhap)

defense ministry-fuel support payment

Defense ministry working to fix fuel support payment recipient errors for military personnel

By Kim Seung-yeon

SEOUL, May 21 (Yonhap) -- The defense ministry said Thursday it is working to fix errors in the list of service members and civilian military employees eligible for a one-time government cash payment aimed at easing the burden of rising fuel prices.

The government has discovered numerous cases in which soldiers and civilian military employees were erroneously excluded from the second round of fuel support payments because annual bonuses paid in March were counted toward their income.

"It appears to have caused some distortion as the eligibility of the fuel support payments was determined based on the March national health insurance premiums," ministry spokesperson Chung Binna said in a press briefing.

"We are already coordinating with relevant ministries and agencies and are making efforts to resolve the issue as soon as possible," she said.

In Korea, annual bonuses can affect national health insurance premiums because they are counted as income in premium calculations. Employees may temporarily appear to have higher income levels than they normally do.

The government has rolled out the cash support package to help ease cost-of-living burden for citizens amid rising oil prices sparked by the Middle East conflict.

The first round of cash assistance was paid to the lowest-income group, while the second round began earlier this week for the bottom 70 percent of income earners, or about 36 million people.

Eligible recipients receive between 100,000 won and 600,000 won (US$66-398), depending on their income and assets.

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