[The Editors' Verdict] What About Those of Us Repaying Loans While Skipping Meals?

The novel "Hello. I am a Self-Employed Person" is a consolation and encouragement to the countless self-employed individuals who had no choice but to make the heartbreaking decision to close their businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. The author calmly and poignantly portrays the stories of ordinary self-employed people commonly seen around us and the protagonist, Daehan, through interviews with various self-employed individuals in the novel.

Daehan, who decided to become self-employed and left a large corporation where he had worked for eight years, started his venture just as the COVID-19 pandemic began to spread widely. He took out loans to renovate and opened a study cafe, but his sales plummeted every time social distancing levels increased in the metropolitan area. The high rent and loan interest eventually forced him to work as a delivery part-timer. At least he was fortunate to know how to ride a motorcycle.

He faced hardships and humiliations he had never experienced at a workplace. "For a business owner who couldn't make money, nodding was automatic, and self-esteem in front of money had long been thrown to the dogs," Daehan murmured.

There is no way to truly understand the feelings of self-employed people who invested their lifelong savings but could barely open their doors over the past two and a half years. It is difficult to imagine what one has not experienced, and people tend to be insensitive to others' hardships.

Small business owners affected by COVID-19 received disaster relief funds and loss compensation payments. Criticism coexisted, as if the best solution that satisfies everyone never existed, with remarks like "only hardworking stores suffer losses" or "it's just a waste of taxes through handouts." Although the government set compensation criteria, debates over appropriateness and fairness always followed. It was also a matter difficult to praise.

The government recently announced a debt relief plan worth "125 trillion won + α" to reduce the debt burden of financially vulnerable groups. Among these, the youth special program (special guarantee for the lowest credit youth) aimed at helping low-credit young people has particularly faced public backlash. Critics argue that compensating personal losses from investments in stocks or virtual assets with taxpayers' money is neither fair nor just.

There is also a flood of criticism regarding the policy to convert variable interest rates on refinancing loans to fixed rates. The question is whether there is a need to take responsibility for decisions made for individual benefit.

Such controversies have continued under the current administration. The Presidential Transition Committee faced public backlash in April after mentioning a bad bank. The idea was to transfer non-performing assets of business owners from commercial banks to a bad bank to prevent bank insolvency and give business owners a chance to recover, but ultimately, the funds for this would be borne by private banks or taxpayers. Various controversies arose, including moral hazard and reverse discrimination issues.

Harsh reactions such as "From now on, don't pay off your debts and just hold on," "Only self-employed people who have diligently paid off debts have become fools," and "A country where only sincere people get exploited" are somewhat understandable. This is a completely different issue from loss compensation or support for self-employed people like Daehan, who suffered due to collective quarantine measures.

People get angry when they feel things are unfair. When told to "understand with a warm heart," the public responds, "What about me, who is repaying loans while even saving on meals...?"

Kim Minjin, Head of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups

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