Small Business Owners with Annual Sales Under 800 Million Won Also Eligible for 4th Disaster Relief Fund... Late-Night Operations Receive Additional Support

Additional Support Funds Under Review for Industries with Sharp Sales Decline...Future Party-Government Consultations Planned

On the first day of the Lunar New Year holiday, the 11th, Yeongcheon Market in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, is bustling with citizens shopping. The government has imposed a ban on private gatherings of five or more people from today until the 14th to prevent the domestic resurgence of COVID-19. Even direct family members cannot gather in groups of five or more if they have different addresses, and fines will be imposed for violations. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Sehee] The Democratic Party of Korea and the government, which have organized the 4th disaster relief fund as a 'selective support,' plan to include self-employed business owners who employ five or more people and those with annual sales of 800 million won or less as recipients of the support funds. These business owners were excluded from the recipients of the 3rd disaster relief fund, but this time they are more likely to receive support following the party-government directive to cover blind spots. The party and government are also actively considering additional disaster relief payments to self-employed and small business owners whose sales have sharply declined due to business restrictions after 9 p.m.

A senior government official said on the 15th, "There are blind spots even among self-employed business owners," and added, "We plan to additionally review places where sales have significantly dropped due to the ban on gatherings of five or more people and business restrictions after 9 p.m."

The core of the party-government's 4th disaster relief fund payment policy is to provide differentiated support based on the degree of sales damage by business hours, regardless of the type of business, rather than providing fixed amounts by categorizing businesses as gathering-prohibited or business-restricted. Last month, when organizing the 3rd disaster relief fund (Small Business Support Fund), the government paid 3 million won to gathering-prohibited businesses, 2 million won to business-restricted businesses, and 1 million won to general businesses. At that time, for gathering-prohibited and business-restricted businesses, if the sales amount by business type qualified as a small business (for restaurants, 1 billion won), support was provided regardless of whether sales had decreased.

However, the government's judgment is that within the limited fiscal scope, sales damage should be prioritized for more effective support. Including employers with five or more employees and business owners with sales of 800 million won or less as recipients is based on this judgment. Shin Young-dae, spokesperson for the Democratic Party, said on the same day, "Raising the annual sales criterion from the original 400 million won to 800 million won or supporting self-employed business owners employing five or more people will be reviewed through future party-government consultations."

Accordingly, the government plans to carefully examine whether sales have decreased due to COVID-19 business restrictions by analyzing business patterns through cash receipt issuance and credit card approval details.

The party also agrees that support should be clearly distinguished according to the degree of damage. A party official said, "Providing uniform support by placing gathering-prohibited and business-restricted businesses on the same level could raise fairness issues." If sales have decreased due to business hour restrictions, recipients will receive more support. Lee Nak-yeon, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, also stated, "The intention is to provide support that closely approaches the pain on the ground."

Accordingly, the party and government plan to exclude convenience stores with increased sales of certain items such as cigarettes, stores that opened in December last year and saw sales increase as of January this year, and business owners with multiple businesses from the payment targets.

Professor Kim Sang-bong of Hansung University’s Department of Economics said, "It is right to selectively distinguish the degree of damage in a situation where finances are insufficient," but added, "However, if the conditions are too strict, it may take a long time to make payments."

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