Assemblyman Sin Jeonghun Introduces Bill to Realize Disaster Support for Small Business Owners as Lead Sponsor

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Park Seon-gang] Shin Jeong-hoon, a member of the National Assembly (Jeonnam Naju·Hwasun, Democratic Party of Korea), announced on the 14th that he has taken the lead in proposing a revision to the "Disaster and Safety Management Basic Act" to realize disaster support for small business owners.

The revision establishes a legal basis for the state and local governments to provide support for the restoration of buildings and facilities of business sites operated by small business owners in case of damage caused by natural disasters.

Accordingly, if the revision is passed, small business owners will be able to receive a type of disaster relief fund when stores and related fixtures are damaged by disasters such as typhoons, floods, strong winds, or heavy snow.

The current law stipulates that in relation to disaster damage recovery support, relief for affected residents, restoration costs for residential buildings, reduction or deferment of taxes and public utility charges can be supported, and if agriculture or fisheries are the main livelihood, support for restoration of the relevant facilities can also be provided.

However, for small business owners, only indirect support such as policy fund loans is stipulated, and there is no legal basis for direct support related to the restoration of business-related facilities or buildings.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, which announce the standards for calculating restoration costs, are the ministries in charge of facilities eligible for disaster relief funds and set unit prices for each facility to calculate the disaster relief funds.

If small and medium-sized enterprises and small business facilities become eligible for disaster relief funds through related legal revisions, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups can also announce detailed unit prices for each facility under its jurisdiction.

Assemblyman Shin Jeong-hoon said, “Most small business owners have small-scale businesses and poor facilities, making them vulnerable to disasters. The current indirect support method in the form of loans inevitably has limitations in applications due to repayment burdens,” and added, “As part of expanding the social safety net for small business owners, it is necessary to prepare more practical damage recovery measures that are needed on the ground.”

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