Seoul City Expands Support for Traditional Market Fire Mutual Aid Insurance Premiums to 80%

Application to the Relevant District After Fire Mutual Aid Insurance Enrollment

[Asia Economy Reporter Kiho Sung] Seoul City announced on the 13th that it will expand the subsidy rate for the ‘Traditional Market Fire Mutual Aid Insurance Premium’ support project, which helps quickly restore damages in case of fire in traditional markets and also guarantees the livelihood safety net for affected merchants, from the existing 60% to 80%.

The support target is about 5,500 stores newly (including renewals) subscribing to the traditional market fire mutual aid from November last year to October this year. Traditional market merchants who have subscribed to the fire mutual aid with a coverage amount of 60 million KRW can receive support of 163,360 KRW, which is 80% of the total annual insurance premium of 204,200 KRW.

‘Traditional Market Fire Mutual Aid Insurance’ is a mutual aid product exclusively for traditional markets that the government supports with business operation expenses and the city subsidizes part of the insurance premium, making it cheaper than private insurance.

The city added that due to the characteristics of traditional markets, where many old facilities and stores are densely packed, even a small fire can cause huge property damage and losses to neighboring stores, and thus started supporting fire mutual aid insurance subscriptions from the second half of 2021 to secure a safety net for merchants.

However, despite this support, as of the end of last year, only 7,133 out of 42,432 traditional market stores in Seoul had subscribed to the fire mutual aid insurance, resulting in a subscription rate of only 17%. Moreover, more than half of the subscribed stores (50.4%, 3,597 stores) subscribed to products with coverage amounts less than 20 million KRW, which are not eligible for insurance premium support, so even if damage occurs, the coverage amount is not large enough to receive adequate compensation.

Therefore, the city decided to expand subscriptions to insurance products with coverage amounts of 20 million KRW or more to ensure substantial fire damage compensation in case of fire and to reduce merchants’ out-of-pocket expenses by increasing the support rate from the current 60% to 80%.

The insurance premium support target is traditional market merchants (business registrants) who subscribe (new or renewal) to insurance with coverage of 20 million KRW or more (mandatory third-party liability insurance) from November this year to the end of October next year. The insurance premium support is up to 80%, and depending on the product, support ranges from 57,760 KRW to 163,360 KRW. Retroactive application is also possible if the premium has already been paid.

Subscription to the traditional market fire mutual aid insurance can be done by submitting an application form to the Small Enterprise and Market Service (Commercial Area Development Office) by mail or through the traditional market fire mutual aid website.

Once the insurance subscription is completed, merchants can submit the support application form, subscription certificate, and other supporting documents to the traditional market department of the district office where the traditional market is located. Once the support decision is made, the insurance premium subsidy will be refunded to the merchant’s account.

Jae-yong Park, Seoul City’s Labor, Fairness, and Coexistence Policy Officer, said, “Traditional Market Fire Mutual Aid Insurance is a practical means to protect not only one’s own property but also neighbors’ property in case of fire,” adding, “We will expand fire insurance premium support to ease the burden on traditional market merchants who are facing difficulties such as consumption contraction due to rising prices, serving as a reliable safety net for small merchants.”

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