The Daegu city government confirmed Tuesday that about 2 . 5 billion won ( $ 2 . 1 million ) in emergency coronavirus relief funds meant for lower - income households had been improperly received by some 3 , 900 public officials . The Daegu Metropolitan City Government in a briefing said that 3 , 928 public officials received the emergency aid despite not being eligible for the grant , including 1 , 800 civil servants , 297 soldiers and 1 , 577 teachers . A group of 74 officials working for the Daegu city government were among those who received the funds . Likewise , there were also 95 people working for public companies or industrial complexes and 126 working for public institutions and investment agencies , all affiliated with the Daegu city government , as well as 23 people working for state - run public organizations . Daegu was at one time the epicenter of the Covid - 19 outbreak in Korea , following the emergence of a large cluster linked to the Shincheonji religious sect . The city has since contained the virus . The city government began accepting applications for the emergency grant in early April and began depositing the funds in mid - April . Those eligible included some 440 , 000 households in Daegu earning less than the median outcome . Depending on the number of people , each household could receive between 500 , 000 and 900 , 000 won . Unlike the government ’ s emergency disaster relief grants paid out in May , the Daegu city government in order to provide substantive relief to lower - income households exempted public officials as recipients of this emergency aid . But these public officials nonetheless applied for emergency aid , receiving the grants . Unlike the government - led emergency disaster relief grants which had to be applied for by the head of the household to receive a one - time payment , anyone in the household could apply for the Daegu city relief fund . That allowed a number of public officials to claim that someone in their family applied for the Daegu emergency relief fund without their knowledge , and that the family member hadn ’ t been aware that the entire household was excluded from eligibility . Local civic organizations have been demanding the Daegu city government recover the grant money and take disciplinary action against the public officials . The Daegu city government is working towards recovering the grants from the 3 , 928 public officials . “ Because of problems of respecting personal information , there was no way to check during the process of receiving applications for the emergency relief fund if applicants were public officials , or if their family members were public officials , " said Lee Seung - ho , Daegu ’ s vice mayor for economy . He added that eligibility was determined based on the national health insurance payment amount and that in the process of reviewing the process afterwards , the city government “ discovered the misallocation ” of the grant . However , a senior Daegu city official said , “ The legal opinion is that it will be difficult to take disciplinary action against public officials who were mistakenly granted the funds . The emergency relief fund in itself is not like overtime pay and is money allocated to all people . However , further legal consultations will be made if disciplinary action is possible . ” BY SARAH KIM , KIM YOUN - HO [ kim . sarah @ joongang . co . kr ]