Park Hong-geun "Support for Entertainment Bar Disaster Relief Fund Can Be Considered If Agreed by People and Ruling and Opposition Parties"

Lee Hoseung Cheong Economic Secretary "No Cases of Policy Fund Support for Highly Entertainment-Oriented Businesses"
Entertainment Bar Owners "Discrimination by Exclusion from 2nd Disaster Relief Fund"

On the 3rd, Park Hong-geun, the Democratic Party of Korea's secretary, is giving a greeting at the Budget and Accounts Special Committee subcommittee held at the National Assembly. Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Ga-yeon] Park Hong-geun, the Democratic Party lawmaker and secretary of the National Assembly's Special Committee on Budget and Accounts, addressed the fairness issue arising from the exclusion of entertainment bar owners from the second round of disaster relief payments, stating, "If the public agrees and the ruling and opposition parties reach a consensus during future review processes, I think it can be considered."

On the 15th, Park said on MBC Radio's 'Kim Jong-bae's Focus' program, "I believe the fairness issues between entertainment bars and danran bars, as well as between individual taxis and corporate taxis, are matters that can be examined during the National Assembly's review process."

He continued, "However, during the review process, we confirmed with the financial authorities that danran bars operate in open spaces without so-called female employees, so support is possible. But entertainment bars and dance halls are different, which goes against public sentiment," adding, "Also, the logic was that there have been no previous cases of support."

Earlier, on the 14th, Lee Ho-seung, the Blue House economic chief, stated in an interview with CBS Radio's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show,' "Industries subject to gathering bans are basically considered eligible for support, but there have been no cases of policy fund support for gambling or other speculative businesses, professional occupations like hospitals or law offices, or highly entertainment-oriented sectors."

Lee added, "There is considerable concern about whether it is appropriate to support entertainment bars where hostesses serve customers and dance halls classified as places for dancing with taxpayers' money," and "The government has decided to exclude those industries for now."

Meanwhile, entertainment bar owners held a press conference condemning the government for excluding them from the second round of disaster relief payments.

Members and executives of the Emergency Countermeasures Committee of the Korea Entertainment Food Service Association held a press conference in front of the main gate of the National Assembly in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, stating, "Since the government abandoned us, we ask the National Assembly to save us," and "Despite being subject to the longest gathering ban orders during the COVID-19 pandemic, we were excluded from the second round of disaster relief payments provided to all small business owners nationwide."

The committee stated, "The entertainment bar industry pays the highest taxes, about 45% of sales among food service industries, yet it has been discriminated against by being excluded from support policies on the grounds of being a 'luxury high-end entertainment venue,'" and demanded ▲ inclusion of livelihood-type entertainment bars in the second disaster relief payment recipients ▲ abolition of discriminatory policies that single out entertainment bars as scapegoats ▲ immediate withdrawal of gathering ban orders to establish minimum livelihood measures.

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