Buan County Declares Basic Income Initiative: What This Means for Rural Communities in 2026

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On the 18th, Buan County in North Jeolla Province announced its ambition to become a leading \”Basic Society\” city by adapting national policy priorities to local conditions.

Vice Chairman Kang Nam-hoon of the Presidential Basic Society Committee attended the ceremony at the Buan Arts Center and publicly endorsed the initiative.

Kang, who also serves as a civilian member of the county’s Basic Income Committee and has consistently advised on Buan’s policy design and implementation, used the visit to signal at home and abroad that the county’s plans align with President Lee Jae-myung’s Basic Society roadmap.

The ceremony attracted attention because it put into practice a pledge President Lee made at a recent North Jeolla town hall: a basic income for rural farming and fishing communities is not merely an experiment, and if localities take the lead, the national government will provide full support.

The county has methodically developed concrete pilot programs to realize the administration’s Basic Society principles.

These initiatives form a life-course basic guarantee system and include a \”Wind Pension\” revenue-sharing model tied to a 2.46 GW offshore wind project (the largest of its kind), a rural basic income to ensure the sustainability of farming and fishing communities, universal livelihood stabilization payments for all residents, measures to bolster local currency circulation, half-price university tuition for students, and dinner subsidies for high school students.

Building on this declaration, the county plans to integrate renewable-energy profit sharing with the rural basic income to complete a Buan-style Basic Society model that guarantees residents a minimally dignified standard of living across income, housing, and energy.

Buan County Governor Kwon Ik-hyun described the vision declaration as more than a local announcement: it demonstrates a national model for implementing the Basic Society the Lee administration seeks. He said Buan will concentrate its preparatory strengths to produce visible outcomes—such as securing additional selections for the rural basic income pilot—and aim to set the national standard for Korea’s Basic Society in Buan.