hankyoreh

Police officers question commuters in Paris’ Avenue des Champs-Élysées on Mar. 17, when everyone in France was ordered to stay home and avoid going outside unless absolutely necessary. (Yonhap News)

An increasing number of local governments are introducing a “basic disaster allowance” for those whose livelihoods have been jeopardized by COVID-19, the disease resulting from the novel coronavirus. Following similar programs in Gangwon Province and the city of Jeonju, North Jeolla Province, the Seoul Metropolitan Government has decided to pay an emergency livelihood allowance to people who are facing difficulties because of the outbreak. While local governments have been the first to take such steps in response to the unprecedented economic downturn caused by the spread of this infectious disease, some are also calling for the central government to issue a basic disaster allowance.

According to the emergency livelihood assistance measures that Seoul announced on Mar. 18, the city will be supporting vulnerable groups that are having trouble meeting their basic needs and will be providing 300,000-500,000 won (US$233.39-388.98) to households making less than the median income in order to stimulate the local economy.

The median income refers to the income of the family at the midpoint of a sequence of families around country arranged by income. The median monthly income is 1,757,000 won (US$1,367) for a single-person household, 2,991,000 won (US$2,327) for a two-person household, 3,870,000 won (US$3,011) for a three-person household and 4,749,000 won (US$3,696) for a four-person household.

The amount of the emergency livelihood assistance will depend on the number of people in the household, with single- and two-person households receiving 300,000 won (US$233), three- and four-person households receiving 400,000 won (US$311), and households with five or more people receiving 500,000 won (US$389). The funds will be disbursed only once via community gift certificates or prepaid cards, which will only be valid through June.

The city expects that 1,177,000 households will receive benefits through this program. Citizens can apply at a local community center or Seoul’s online welfare portal starting on Mar. 30, with benefits going out three or four days after their income has been verified. In order to prevent “double dipping,” families who are receiving support from the revised supplementary budget passed by the National Assembly on Mar. 17 and recipients of unemployment benefits, emergency welfare, and the youth allowance will not be eligible for this one-time payment.

Seoul had originally proposed giving all households below the median income a voucher worth 600,000 won (US$466) as a form of emergency assistance, but the central government didn’t accept that proposal. As a result, Seoul intends to pay for the program by allocating funds from its disaster preparation fund and other sources.

Jeonju was the first local government to adopt a basic disaster allowance. On Mar. 13, the city resolved to provide 527,000 won (US$410) to some 50,000 members of vulnerable groups. The program focuses on those unable to perform normal economic activity because of COVID-19, including day laborers, the unemployed, people supporting themselves on part-time work, taxi drivers, and part-time lecturers.

The city of Hwasong, in Gyeonggi Province, will be providing a disaster livelihood allowance worth an average of 2 million won (US$1,554) to some 33,000 small business owners who have seen sales fall by at least 10% from the same period last year. Chuncheon, a city in Gangwon Province, has also decided to allocate 1.3 billion won (US$1.01 million) to help citizens suffering hardship because of COVID-19, provided that their income does not exceed 120% of the median.

The first provincial or metropolitan government to take such a measure was Gangwon Province, which decided on Mar. 17 to pay 400,000 won (US$311) in basic disaster allowances (which the province calls “emergency livelihood stability assistance funding”) to 300,000 residents of the province.

The “basic disaster allowance” that’s being discussed at the moment is, technically speaking, more of a one-time “disaster allowance.” That distinguishes it from the concept of “basic income,” which refers to money that is disbursed regularly to all citizens.

The mayors and governors who have been the quickest to call for a basic disaster allowance are Lee Jae-myung, governor of Gyeonggi Province, and Kim Kyoung-soo, governor of South Gyeongsang Province. Both of these governors called for all citizens to be paid 1 million won (US$778) in basic disaster allowance. But whereas Lee called for the payment to be made uniformly, under the concept of universal basic income, Kim proposed a selective welfare measure under which the money paid to high-income earners would be clawed back next year in the form of taxes.

Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon, North Gyeongsang Province Governor Lee Cheol-woo, South Chungcheong Province Governor Yang Seung-jo, and Jeju Governor Won Hee-ryong have proposed limiting benefits to people in classes, occupations, and income levels whose livelihood is directly endangered. They point to the cost: paying 1 million won (US$778) to everyone in the country would entail a huge expenditure of 51 trillion won (US$39.67 billion).

Welfare experts argue that the central government’s assistance will be necessary to overcome this disaster. “Only providing a basic disaster allowance to certain regions would lead to regional discrepancies in the level of assistance, inevitably creating an issue with fairness on the national level. The basic disaster income ought to be provided not by local governments but by the central government,” said Ahn Sang-hun, a professor of social welfare at Seoul National University.

“Since COVID-19 affects not only our neighbors but the entire country, funding needs to come from both local governments and the central government,” said Lee Seung-yun, a professor of social welfare at Chung-Ang University.

“This crisis will give us a taste of basic income and allow us to imagine what such a society would be like,” Lee added.

By Lee Jung-ha and Lee Jeong-gyu, staff reporter

Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]