[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] The National Assembly's Industry, Trade, Energy, Small and Medium Enterprises and Startups Committee's bill subcommittee discussed the Small Business Loss Compensation Act on the 16th but faced difficulties due to differences between the ruling and opposition parties over retroactive application.
The Democratic Party of Korea argued that since loss estimation takes a long time, a rapid form of 'damage support' should be provided to effectively achieve a retroactive effect.
Kang Sung-chun, Vice Minister of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, who attended the subcommittee, also presented a government proposal specifying 'damage support' in the supplementary provisions, stating, "We will make efforts to subdivide the support range more than the previous disaster relief fund method to ensure support corresponds to the actual scale of damage."
On the other hand, the opposition parties countered that 'retroactive compensation' should be provided for the periods when administrative orders were issued in the past. Choi Seung-jae, a member of the People Power Party, said, "Small business owners are not asking for the support funds quickly but are requesting retroactive compensation," adding, "The Ministry of SMEs and Startups should listen to such requests."
Kim Jung-jae, also from the People Power Party, addressed the issue of overlap, saying, "Disaster relief funds were given by the state as benevolent aid, so why should they be deducted?" and added, "I hope everyone has some conscience."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
