Ministry of Health and Welfare Struggles for Over a Week Over 'High-Net-Worth Individual' Criteria

Yoon Jong-in, Vice Minister of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety (third from the left), is announcing the results of the joint task force (TF) of related ministries regarding the emergency disaster relief fund payment due to the COVID-19 situation at the Government Sejong Complex in Sejong City on the morning of the 3rd.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Joo Sang-don] The government is struggling to establish criteria for 'high-net-worth individuals' to be excluded from the emergency disaster relief fund recipients.

On the 11th, a member of the 'Emergency Disaster Relief Fund Pan-Government Task Force (TF)' said, "The Ministry of Health and Welfare is leading the effort to establish criteria for high-net-worth individuals who will be excluded from receiving the disaster relief fund."

Earlier, on the 3rd, the TF announced that the recipients of the disaster relief fund would be selected based on the 'health insurance premium payment amount in March of this year.' Specifically, they presented a 'Emergency Disaster Relief Fund Selection Criteria Table' similar to the 'Social Service Project Income Assessment Criteria Table,' which is calculated based on the health insurance premium payment amounts corresponding to each income level. According to this, for workplace subscribers, the household monthly health insurance premium payment amount for a 4-person household is 237,652 KRW or less. For a 3-person household, it is 195,200 KRW; for a 2-person household, 150,025 KRW; and for a single-person household, 88,344 KRW. For regional subscribers, the amounts differ: 254,909 KRW for a 4-person household; 203,127 KRW for a 3-person household; 147,928 KRW for a 2-person household; and 63,778 KRW for a single-person household. The emergency disaster relief fund is paid on a household basis, and the household members are applied based on the resident registration as of the 29th of last month.

If recipients are selected solely based on health insurance premium payments, high-net-worth individuals could still receive the disaster relief fund. To prevent this, the TF plans to create exclusion criteria through additional review of related public data. Options under consideration include excluding those subject to comprehensive real estate tax payments (housing official price of 900 million KRW or more, or multi-homeowners with 600 million KRW or more) or those possessing assets of 500 million to 600 million KRW or more in real estate or financial assets, similar to the emergency welfare support system.

After announcing the criteria to identify the bottom 70% income group, the standards for high-net-worth individuals have yet to be finalized even after a week, and calls for 'universal payment' rather than 'selective payment' are resurfacing, mainly from the ruling party. On the 6th, Lee Hae-chan, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, stated, "It is important to properly demonstrate that the state protects all citizens regardless of region or income," and announced plans to change the emergency disaster relief fund recipients to all citizens nationwide. Additionally, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said, "While I believe selective welfare is necessary, given the urgency of the situation, universal payment can be made on the condition that a mechanism to reclaim funds from high-income earners is established," and added, "From the perspective of speed and administrative convenience, 100% universal payment is easier."

In response, the Ministry of Economy and Finance maintains that "there is no change in the policy of selective disaster relief fund payment." On the 8th, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Hong Nam-ki said, "We are currently working on the supplementary budget, including expenditure restructuring, based on the previously announced criteria," and "We will submit the supplementary budget bill for the emergency disaster relief fund to the National Assembly next week."

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