Seoul City Councilor Kim Gidae: "Urgent Need for Public Utility Fee Reductions and Extension of Deadlines for Penalties and Fines"

Assemblyman Kim Gidae Suggests Expanding Good Public Utility Fee Culture as Emergency Living Expense Support Alone Is Insufficient

[Asia Economy Reporter Jong-il Park] On the 18th, Seoul City announced emergency living expense support for COVID-19, but voices from the City Council are emerging, saying that this alone cannot resolve the livelihood threats faced by citizens, and calling for the spread of a culture of "Good Public Utility Fees," such as reductions or deferrals of public utility fees like electricity and water/sewer charges, or extensions of payment deadlines for fines and penalties.

According to Assemblyman Kim Gi-dae (The Democratic Party, Seongdong 3), who chairs the City Council’s Urban Safety and Construction Committee, some small business owners and daily wage workers have had their income completely disappear or drastically decrease due to the impact of COVID-19, making it impossible for them to pay even the basic monthly public utility fees, threatening their basic livelihoods. This has led to serious social problems recently, such as overdue public utility fees and the burden of high late fees due to unpaid fines or penalties, which are relatively large one-time payments.

Regarding this, Chairman Kim argued, "It is necessary for the central government and local governments to actively implement COVID-19 shock mitigation policies such as reductions or deferrals of public utility fees, extensions of payment deadlines for fines and penalties, and reductions of late fees, so that low-income citizens or small business owners do not have to bear the burden of public utility fees or late fees while struggling against COVID-19."

He also expressed that, as recently demonstrated by our excellent national character, a culture of "Good Rent" is spreading, where some landlords voluntarily reduce rents to share the pain of tenants, and urged the government to follow this example and promote a culture of "Good Public Utility Fees."

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