The Party, Government, and 청 “Urgent Fair Economy for Economically Vulnerable Due to COVID-19... Promoting Institutional Improvements”

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jin-young] The Democratic Party of Korea, the government, and the Blue House have decided to promote improvements to the fair economy system to support small business owners and self-employed individuals who are struggling due to the economic downturn caused by the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19).

On the 15th, Kim Tae-nyeon, the floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, Cho Jung-ok, the chairman of the Fair Trade Commission, Kim Sang-jo, the chief of the Blue House Policy Office, and other main attendees at the 'Dang-Jeong-Cheong Euljiro Livelihood Issues Meeting' held at the National Assembly are shouting "Fighting" and taking a commemorative photo. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

On the 15th, the party, government, and Blue House held the ‘Euljiro Livelihood Issues Meeting’ at the National Assembly and announced measures to improve the system to overcome COVID-19. Kim Tae-nyeon, the floor leader of the Democratic Party, said at the meeting, “Fair economy must be completed for the flower of innovation to bloom and for economic vulnerable groups to be embraced,” adding, “Especially, fair economy policies to protect economically vulnerable groups such as small business owners and self-employed individuals who are suffering greatly due to COVID-19 are urgent.”

The party, government, and Blue House decided to promote 28 tasks in four areas: ▲ improving the business environment for small business owners and self-employed individuals ▲ strengthening the foundation for startup, transactions, and damage relief for small and medium enterprises ▲ protecting consumer rights ▲ and strengthening the rights of workers and special employment workers. To this end, they proposed measures such as ▲ establishing designation criteria for neighborhood stores ▲ expanding the distribution of standard contracts for franchises and agencies ▲ expanding the target residents of startup incubation centers ▲ revitalizing subcontract payment adjustments ▲ establishing standards for resolving penalty disputes between consumers and businesses in the event of a large-scale infectious disease outbreak ▲ and expanding the application of industrial accident insurance for special employment workers.

Cho Sung-wook, chairman of the Fair Trade Commission, emphasized the need for system improvements at the meeting, saying, “The economic and social damage and suffering caused by COVID-19 are more serious because they are not the same for all economic actors,” and “Economically vulnerable groups such as small business owners and self-employed individuals are suffering even more.”

Chairman Cho added, “You might wonder why a fair economy is necessary in the COVID-19 situation,” explaining, “It is true that COVID-19 has affected all businesses. However, the impact is particularly greater on small and medium-sized business owners and consumers.”

Park Hong-geun, chairman of the Democratic Party’s Euljiro Committee, said, “This plan not only addresses immediate unfairness from the perspective of a fair economy but also has the meaning of responding to the post-COVID-19 era,” promising, “We will expedite the schedule so that the announced measures can be felt and established in the field as soon as possible, and speed up the implementation of necessary follow-up measures to carefully manage the process.”

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