Jeonnam Provincial Assembly Member Kim Ki-tae: "Government Guidelines Should Compensate Losses of Closed Businesses"

Kim Ki-tae, Jeonnam Provincial Assembly Member

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Chunsu] Kim Gitae, a member of the Jeonnam Provincial Assembly, announced on the 27th that he urged the government to establish fundamental measures to compensate for losses incurred by private businesses closed under government quarantine guidelines and to minimize damages to small business owners caused by recurring infectious disease outbreaks.

The National Assembly passed three laws on the 26th aimed at responding to COVID-19 in a plenary session. The main contents include “establishing grounds for compulsory quarantine measures for suspected infectious disease patients,” “export restrictions on quarantine-related products,” and “increasing penalties for violations of hospitalization and quarantine orders,” all designed to prevent the spread of infectious diseases and protect the lives, safety, and property of the public through stronger countermeasures.

Based on the “Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Act,” government and local government heads can order the closure of places where infectious disease patients are present or places recognized as contaminated with infectious disease pathogens, and losses incurred from such measures can be compensated following deliberation and resolution by the Loss Compensation Deliberation Committee.

However, compensation is limited to medical institutions, and private businesses are only compensated if they are located together with medical institutions, effectively excluding most private businesses from compensation.

During the 2015 MERS outbreak, compensation totaling 178.1 billion KRW was paid to 177 medical institutions, 21 pharmacies that closed according to government guidelines, and 35 stores.

Currently, due to COVID-19, private businesses such as restaurants, PC rooms, marts, and fast-food outlets visited by confirmed patients have been closed under government quarantine guidelines regardless of industry, resulting in massive damages due to inability to operate.

Additionally, as the movement paths of infected individuals are publicly disclosed, even after disinfection and quarantine measures are completed and there is no risk of infection, these businesses suffer secondary damages akin to a “stigma effect,” with customers ceasing to visit.

Accordingly, during the revision of the “Infectious Disease Act,” it was reportedly discussed to allow compensation for losses to private businesses beyond medical institutions, and the ruling party, government, and Blue House considered reflecting this in supplementary budgets. However, disagreements over the universality and validity of compensation targets among political parties, as well as concerns about excessive claims and lawsuits, prevented consensus.

Assemblyman Kim stated, “The government must wipe away the tears of small business owners who closed their businesses in compliance with government quarantine guidelines to help prevent the spread of infectious diseases,” and proposed, “If direct compensation to small business owners who fulfilled their duties as citizens is difficult, at least tax reductions or priority in small business policies should be granted.”

Kim also pointed out that current government and Jeonnam Province measures for small business owners are limited to loan measures such as special guarantee systems or management stabilization funds. As more practical measures, he cited ▲property tax reductions for ‘coexisting tenants’ such as rent reductions and ▲post office parcel delivery support for traditional markets struggling due to decreased customer visits.

Kim emphasized, “A mutual aid-style deduction system, where the government provides matching subsidies to reserves accumulated regularly, and a deduction product that can be accessed during national disasters like infectious disease outbreaks is necessary.”

He further stressed, “Given that the number of new infectious diseases worldwide has increased more than fourfold over the past 60 years and infectious disease outbreaks occur periodically, government financial authorities should develop, at the national level, insurance products that compensate small business owners for losses when infections and confirmed cases exceed a certain threshold, similar to agricultural disaster insurance.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.