South Korean local budgets for traditional market fire insurance exhausted in 17 regions

Budgets for the traditional market fire mutual aid program, which provides low-cost fire insurance for merchants, have been exhausted in 17 local governments across South Korea. According to data provided by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups to Representative Kim Won-i, 223 out of 227 local governments participate in the scheme, where municipalities cover 60% to 80% of insurance premiums.

There is a significant disparity in budget execution rates between metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas. While no local governments in Seoul have exhausted their budgets, with an average execution rate of 57%, several regions in non-metropolitan areas have already reached 100% exhaustion. Jeollanam-do reported the highest number of exhausted budgets with five locations, including Jindo, Haenam, Gwangyang, Naju, and Yeosu. Other affected areas include parts of Chungnam, Gyeonggi, Incheon, Daegu, Gyeongbuk, Chungbuk, and Jeonbuk.

This trend is attributed to the smaller budget scales of rural municipalities. For instance, Haenam-gun exhausted a budget of only 4.1 million won, whereas Dongdaemun-gu in Seoul had allocated 98 million won. Although the Special Act on the Promotion of Traditional Markets and Shopping Districts allows for national government support, no national funds have been allocated to date. Representative Kim has called for increased national government responsibility and direct financial support for non-metropolitan regions with low fiscal independence to ensure stable protection for small business owners.