Gyeonggi Province to Completely Replace Children's Meal Cards (G Dream Card) with IC Cards Starting December 14

[Suwon Ilbo=Park No-hun] Gyeonggi Province will completely replace and issue existing magnetic children's meal cards (G Dream Card) with cards containing integrated circuit (IC) chips.

Beginning with three cities—Suwon, Gwangmyeong, and Goyang—on the 14th, 20 municipalities will replace their cards by January next year, excluding six cities and counties (Seongnam, Uiwang, Pocheon, Yangpyeong, Namyangju, and Icheon) that provide lunch boxes and side dishes. Gapyeong and Hanam are scheduled to issue and use new cards in January and February next year.

The children's meal card is used for the "malnourished children meal support program," which provides meals to children under 18 at risk of missing meals due to poverty or parental unemployment, with the province and municipalities sharing the budget costs.
G Dream Card is the proprietary name for the children's meal card implemented by Gyeonggi Province.

While the existing magnetic children's meal cards had restrictions in some stores and card terminal usage, the province expects the IC card replacement will substantially resolve usage inconveniences.

Additionally, the existing children's meal cards were designed so anyone could identify them as meal cards for malnourished children, causing some children to feel psychological burden in their use. The new cards have the same design as general check cards.

To receive the newly issued IC cards, users can visit the community center in their residential area where they originally received the card, return their existing card, and receive the replacement.

Park Geun-gyun, director of the Gyeonggi Province Children's Care Division, stated, "We hope children can confidently enjoy quality meals at various places without feeling excluded or burdened."

Meanwhile, starting August 31, Gyeonggi Province established a plan to automatically link BC Card's general restaurants (excluding bars, pojangmacha, and cafes) with G Dream Card to secure additional affiliated merchants. The province has significantly expanded available stores to approximately 154,000 locations.