Yellow Umbrella Mutual Aid Fund Previously Only for Business Closure Now Also Available for Disasters and Illnesses

Yellow Umbrella Mutual Aid Launch Ceremony.

Yellow Umbrella Mutual Aid funds, which were previously only available upon business closure, can now also be received in cases of disasters and illnesses.

On the 23rd, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced the legislative notice of a partial amendment to the Enforcement Decree of the Small and Medium Enterprise Cooperative Act to expand the coverage of the Yellow Umbrella Mutual Aid and introduce a mid-term settlement system.

The Yellow Umbrella Mutual Aid was introduced in 2007 to protect small businesses and small merchants from livelihood threats such as business closure or old age. Currently, the mutual aid funds can only be paid in four cases that effectively correspond to business closure: closure, death, retirement, and old age.

With this amendment to the enforcement decree, four new cases?natural disasters, social disasters, illness/injury, and rehabilitation/bankruptcy?have been added to the existing coverage. The purpose is to allow small merchants to receive and utilize mutual aid funds even when experiencing temporary crises other than business closure.

For the four newly added coverage cases, a mid-term settlement system has also been established so that subscribers can choose to receive only part of the mutual aid funds while maintaining the mutual aid contract and continue to enjoy various benefits of the Yellow Umbrella Mutual Aid.

This amendment is one of the follow-up measures to the "Yellow Umbrella Mutual Aid Development Plan" announced by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the Korea Federation of SMEs in July. Other tasks such as strengthening welfare services and improving stable returns will also be implemented without delay.

Kim Bong-deok, head of the SME COVID-19 Recovery Support Group at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, said, "The Yellow Umbrella Mutual Aid business closure funds have been a great help for small merchants' re-startups and overcoming crises. As the number of mutual aid subscribers and premium income continues to increase, we will operate the mutual aid stably to ensure that the Yellow Umbrella Mutual Aid becomes a reliable social safety net for small merchants."