Assemblyman Shin Jeong-hoon: "Only 13% Enrollment Rate in Traditional Market Fire Mutual Aid Program"

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Concerns have been raised that the subscription rate for the traditional market fire mutual aid program, aimed at establishing a safety net for small business owners' livelihoods, is low and its effectiveness appears insufficient, indicating the need for improvements.

On the 19th, Representative Shin Jeong-hoon (Jeonnam Naju-Hwasun, Democratic Party, Industry, Trade, and Small and Medium Venture Business Committee) analyzed data submitted by the Small Enterprise and Market Service and found that the subscription rate for the traditional market fire mutual aid product was very low.

According to the most recent survey, the "2018 Traditional Market, Shopping District, and Store Management Status Survey," out of 184,412 business stores nationwide, only 23,927 subscribed to the fire mutual aid product, resulting in a subscription rate of just 13%.

By region, Gangwon had the highest subscription rate at 31%, followed by Jeonbuk and Chungbuk at 22% each, Ulsan at 21%, Jeonnam at 17%, Incheon and Chungnam at 16% each, and Gyeonggi and Daejeon at 15% each.

Jeju had the lowest subscription rate nationwide at 2%, followed by Daegu at 3% and Gwangju at 5%.

As of the end of August, among the 17 local governments, eight?including Incheon, Seoul, Gyeonggi in the metropolitan area, Daegu, Jeju, Daejeon, Gwangju, and Sejong?provided no subsidies for mutual aid fees.

Due to the low subscription rate, the balance of mutual aid fees is minimal, making it difficult to provide sufficient compensation in the event of a large fire. As of July 2020, the mutual aid fee balance was only about 3.9 billion KRW.

Moreover, to increase the subscription rate for traditional market fire mutual aid, related official letters such as the "Request for Cooperation to Reflect Mandatory Subscription Ordinance for Public Markets in Traditional Market Fire Mutual Aid" were sent to local governments five times from February 2017 to this year. However, out of 112 target basic local governments, only 38 have reflected this in their ordinances.

The Small Enterprise and Market Service has been conducting the "Traditional Market Fire Mutual Aid Project" since January 2017, starting product sales. The fund is created from merchants' mutual aid contributions, and the government supports operation and marketing to provide low-cost, guaranteed fire mutual aid products.

Representative Shin Jeong-hoon stated, "Traditional markets are exposed to fire risks due to their maze-like dense structures vulnerable to large fires and aging buildings with faulty electrical and gas facilities. Therefore, it is necessary to mandate government or local government support for part of the subscription fees to significantly reduce the burden of insurance premiums. We must enhance coverage by allowing contributions or subsidies to the loss reserve fund, and for local governments that avoid subscription, penalties should be imposed during the selection of traditional market-related projects or budget allocation to strengthen enforcement."

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