Speed up legislation to compensate for business losses
Self-employed people are slipping deeper into debt, as they have been ordered to close or limit their business operations under state-imposed social distancing guidelines aimed at containing the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. As things stand, their economic plight is unlikely to be alleviated anytime soon.
According to a report released by the Bank of Korea, the outstanding debt of 2.38 million self-employed persons amounted to about 803.5 trillion won ($718.8 billion) at the end of last year, up 118.6 trillion won from a year ago. The increase is nearly double the previous year's rise of 60.6 trillion won, meaning that 44 percent of the nation's 5.42 million self-employed people have an average debt of 337 million won. The self-employed who took out loans for the first time last year borrowed nearly 125.8 trillion won. And nearly 200,000 individuals are heavy debtors who have borrowed money from at least three different financial firms to keep their business operating.