Sungsimdang bread: Daejeon's donation gift that keeps on giving

DAEJEON — Bread from the Daejeon bakery Sungsimdang has topped the city's list of thank-you gifts for donors for three years running, with donations to Daejeon rising more than twelvefold over the same stretch.

The gifts go to people who give through the hometown love donation program, which took effect on Jan. 1, 2023. Anyone can donate to a local government other than the one where they are registered as a resident in return for a tax credit and a gift.

Donors can give up to 20 million won ($14,400) a year in 2026. They receive a full tax credit on the first 100,000 won, a 44 percent credit on the next 100,000 won and a 16.5 percent credit on amounts above 200,000 won.

Daejeon released its tally on Thursday. In 2023, the program's first year, Sungsimdang pound cake was the most requested gift in the city, handed out 276 times and worth 8.28 million won. That was 32 percent of all gifts by count and 30 percent by value.

Sungsimdang gift vouchers took first place in 2024, with 2,847 vouchers worth 85.41 million won. The pound cake came second. Together, the two accounted for 3,732 gifts worth 111.96 million won, or 63.6 percent of the 5,864 gifts the city handed out that year.

Three Sungsimdang items led the list in 2025: the vouchers, the pound cake and a chocolate pound cake. Together they accounted for 6,232 gifts worth 188 million won, or 61 percent of the 10,202 gifts Daejeon gave out.

Donations have climbed alongside them. The city logged 1,484 donations worth 122 million won in the program's first year in 2023, then 6,877 worth 686 million won in 2024. In 2025, it took 18,472 donations worth 1.84 billion won. 

Sungsimdang vouchers offered by Daejeon and by its Jung District were the most requested gifts in the national program in 2024. In Jung District last year, the vouchers and the pound cake together made up 87 percent of the 30,424 gifts handed out, at 26,428.

"A lot of donors are effectively giving because they have seen the Sungsimdang bread on the gift list, so swapping in something else as the main draw is not easy," a Daejeon city official said.

The city's list also carries gim (seaweed), sesame oil, Kkumdori instant noodles named after the Daejeon mascot, and dongdongju, an unfiltered rice wine.

Daejeon gave Sungsimdang a plaque of appreciation on Thursday morning at the mayor's office, where CEO Lim Young-jin and other executives were invited.

"Sungsimdang is a local company that represents Daejeon, and it has contributed a great deal to reviving the hometown love donation program and to the development of the community," Mayor Heo Tae-jeong said. "I am grateful for what it has done, and I hope it keeps growing alongside Daejeon."

Sungsimdang, founded in 1956, employs about 1,500 people. It posted revenue of 262.5 billion won last year, according to a regulatory filing.

The bakery also came first among travel destinations in a public vote run by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organization, the two announced Wednesday. The vote picked 9,883 sites across 100 travel themes. Between June 29 and July 17, 40,145 people cast ballots for 1,538,035 places.

BY KIM BANG-HYUN [[email protected]]