Loss Compensation Prepayment Site 'Down', Small Business Owners Express "Frustration"

Waiting Status Continues at Electronic Contract Signing Stage for Loan After Application
"Temporary Bottleneck Occurred During Peak Access Times on Weekends or After Lunch"

On the 19th, a small business owner visiting the Seoul Jungbu Center of the Small Enterprise and Market Service in Jongno-gu, Seoul, is signing an agreement to apply for the advance payment of COVID-19 loss compensation for small and micro businesses. Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] As the advance payment of loss compensation for small business owners began on the 19th, complaints from self-employed individuals have increased due to continued delays in accessing the application site.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups started accepting applications for the 5 million KRW advance payment of loss compensation from 9 a.m. on the 19th.

The advance payment application period runs until the 26th, targeting 550,000 small business owners and small enterprises eligible for loss compensation for the fourth quarter of last year and the first quarter of this year, who were subject to business hour restrictions from December 6 last year to the 16th of this month.

To prevent access delays caused by a surge in users during application submissions, the Ministry has implemented a five-day rotation system from the 19th to the 23rd, based on the last digit of the representative’s resident registration number birth year.

However, on the actual site, access waiting times for loss compensation were announced as 10 hours, causing continued dissatisfaction among self-employed individuals due to unstable access.

Jin Sunyoung (pseudonym), a self-employed caf? owner, said, "During the electronic contract step for the loan, the message 'Service Waiting' kept appearing, so I waited for 10 hours."

Kim Seongho (pseudonym), a self-employed karaoke business owner, also expressed frustration, saying, "The site was down when applying for last year’s loss compensation, and I don’t understand why the system hasn’t improved at all this time either." He added, "I keep checking the application site even after coming to the store, but the news says payments are proceeding smoothly, which makes me angry."

Additionally, on self-employed online cafes, criticisms continued such as "The expected waiting time kept increasing, so I stared at the screen all day," "I applied on the first day but got pushed back; I’m worried if I can receive it before the Lunar New Year," and "I applied but haven’t received the contract message yet, so I’m still waiting."

The site outage issue began on the first day of applications, the 19th.

In response, the government stated that it is not a system failure.

A Ministry of SMEs and Startups official explained, "Since we increased capacity once, it is not a server problem. The delay was caused by a temporary bottleneck during peak access times such as weekends or after lunch."

Meanwhile, from the 24th, when the five-day rotation system ends, applications can be submitted 24 hours a day from 9 a.m. on the dedicated website (손실보상선지급.kr).

Contracts will be processed 24 hours a day to ensure payments are made before the Lunar New Year holiday as much as possible. Special payments will also be made on the 29th and 30th. The government explained that if small business owners complete contracts by the 29th, they can receive payments on the 30th.