Sanitary pads are displayed at a Daiso store in Seoul on April 6.YONHAP
The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family announced Thursday that it will begin rolling out a freepublic sanitary pad service at public facilities in 12 pilot regions nationwide starting Monday.
The pilot program will operate in 12 regions: Gwangjin District in eastern Seoul; Eunpyeong District in northern Seoul; Gwangmyeong and Suwon in Gyeonggi; Seocheon County in South Chungcheong; Jung District in Daejeon; Jeongeup in North Jeolla; Mokpo in South Jeolla; Buk District in Gwangju; Gumi in North Gyeongsang; Geochang County in South Gyeongsang and Jeju in Jeju Island.
About 500 easily accessible public facilities, including community service centers, libraries and youth centers, will install the sanitary pad dispenserswhere visitors can take them for free.
The pilot project is designed as a public convenience service that allows anyone who needs sanitary pads to obtain them quickly and easily at nearby public facilities.
The initiative follows President Lee Jae Myung's remarks in January highlighting the high cost of sanitary pads in Korea. At the time, he instructed officials to "look into ways to produce sanitary pads with basic quality standards at low cost and provide them free of charge."
A total of 6.5 million packs, containing 13 million sanitary pads, will be distributed this year under the program. The government has allocated 3.2 billion won ($2.1 million) for the project.
President Lee Jae Myung speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the Blue House in central Seoul on Jan. 20.JOINT PRESS CORPS
"Just as public restrooms provide toilet paper, sanitary pads should become a basic public convenience item that people can access whenever they need them," a Gender Ministry official said.
Users can check the locations of participating facilities on the websites of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family or their local governments.
The products will be packaged with the labels "Public Sanitary Pads" (translated) or "Pads for Everyone" (translated) to indicate that they are government-provided supplies.
Each pack contains two regular-size sanitary pads. Signs will be posted at facility entrances to help users locate the dispensers, while designated staff at each site will be responsible for monitoring supplies and managing operations.
The image shows a manual sanitary pad dispenser and the public sanitary pads that will be distributed at public facilities.NEWS1
A total of 700 dispensers will be installed, including 400 manual units and 300 automated units.
Manual dispensers will be installed first from Monday and will allow users to take sanitary pads directly from the units.
Automated dispensers, which dispense a pack when users press a button labeled "Recieve" on the front of the machine, will be installed gradually from July 20 after completing electrical safety and quality certification procedures.
To improve accessibility, the ministry will begin providing information on participating facilities through its website and those of regional governments starting Monday.
In the future, it plans to launch a dedicated website with map-based search functions, allowing users to locate the nearest participating facility and check real-time sanitary pad availability.
"The pilot program is meaningful because it expands access to public services by making sanitary pads more readily available whenever they are needed," Gender Equality and Family Minister Won Min-kyong said. "We also hope it will help stabilize prices indirectly by diversifying the channels through which sanitary pads are distributed."
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
