People Power Party and Government, "All Small Business Owners and Self-employed Business Owners Will Receive at Least 6 Million Won as Compensation for Losses"

[경향신문]

People Power Party floor leader Kweon Seong-dong (center) speaks at a meeting between the People Power Party and the government on the second supplemental budget to compensate small business owners for losses at the National Assembly on May 11. National Assembly press photographers

On May 11, the People Power Party and the government announced that the state would hand out a minimum of 6 million won as compensation for losses to all small business owners and self-employed business owners. They will allocate asupplemental budget reflecting the compensation of over 33 trillion won.

This morning, after a meeting of the People Power Party and the government on the supplemental budget at the National Assembly, Sung Il-jong, the head of policy at the People Power Party met with reporters and shared the major details of the supplemental budget including the compensation.

Sung said, “We will make sure small business owners receive at least 6 million won to fully compensate the losses they suffered,” and further explained, “We also strongly demanded support for businesses that were excluded (from compensation) in the past. Thus, we will include the travel industry, performance and exhibition industry, and the airline industry among businesses eligible for compensation and give them priority.”

Sung also said, “We asked the government to increase the compensation rate for losses from the existing 90% to 100% and also increase the minimum quarterly amount from the current 500,000 won to 1 million won, and the government promised to reflect our request.”

He continued and said, “We will expand support for the 2.3 million low-income and vulnerable households further from the government draft,” and explained, “We asked the government to temporarily hand out an additional 750,000-1 million won (4-member household) as an emergency living support fund, and the government agreed.”

The head of policy in the People Power Party explained, “In order to resolve the blind spots that also suffered from covid, we discussed with the government ways to support all freelancers and workers employed in special ways, such as corporate taxi drivers, chartered bus drivers, fixed-route bus drivers, people in culture and arts, insurance agents, and daeri (replacement) drivers.”

The People Power Party also asked the government to include measures to support farmers and fishermen facing hard times recently due to the inflation, such as rising fertilizer and feed prices, according to Sung. The party announced that it asked the government for support from state funds on some of the increased prices and for lower interest rates on policy loans for farmers and fishermen.

The supplemental budget is expected to be slightly over 33 trillion won. The party’s floor leader Kweon Seong-dong met with reporters after the government meeting and said, “We asked the government for over 33 trillion won in addition to the 17 trillion won allocated in the first supplemental budget this year.” Sung said they had no plan to issue government bonds to secure funds.

Kweon said, “There was some confusion in the presidential transition committee’s announcement that the government would hand out different amounts (for compensation),” and explained, “Many small business owners complained about receiving different amounts, so today’s key point was to hand out at least 6 million won regardless of whether or not they suffered losses to resolve such complaints.”

Sung said that the government would review a supplemental budget including these details in a cabinet meeting on May 12 and announce the specific decision.