Broadcast on Friday, March 22, 2024 With high prices, high interest rates, and an economic downturn, leading to declining sales, some self-employed people are saying that now is harder than during the COVID-19 pandemic. Self-employed people who are having a hard time paying the interest on the debt that increased during the COVID-19 pandemic are saying that they have no choice but to close their businesses. 《Tracking 60 Minutes》 looked into the reality of self-employed people on the edge of a cliff in the spring of 2024. ■ COVID-19 changed everything, and self-employed people are in deep debt. A bathhouse in Geumcheon-gu, Seoul, run by father and son. In the winter of 2019, grandson Park Jun-woo inherited the bathhouse and borrowed 900 million won from a bank to renovate the aging facilities of the 50-year-old bathhouse. However, the following year, COVID-19 swept the nation, and bathhouses, which are public facilities, were designated as places where gatherings are prohibited, causing profits to plummet. The difficult COVID-19 pandemic is over, but the 900 million won in debt still remains. Meanwhile, the electricity bill has increased by 43%, and Park has no way of paying off his debt. Karaoke bars are also businesses that have suffered greatly during the COVID-19 period. Ms. Kim Myeong-suk, who runs a karaoke bar in Ansan, received a loan from the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund to operate her karaoke bar during the COVID-19 period. The total loan amount was 45 million won, and although she received it because it was a government-supported low-interest rate, the interest rate jumped from 1.5% to 3.7% when it matured. In the end, President Kim had to go to the construction site to pay the interest. Mr. Seong Nak-hoon, who runs a Korean restaurant in Yangsan, Gyeongnam, also had monthly sales of 50 million won before the COVID-19 outbreak, but sales plummeted during the COVID-19 period and she had a deficit of 5 million won every month. Mr. Seong, who received a loan to operate his store, currently has a debt of 360 million won. He is currently undergoing personal rehabilitation because he cannot pay his debt, but he is currently unable to make the payments properly. He is asking that he be compensated for losses due to COVID-19. “If they said they would retroactively apply compensation for losses even now, we could resolve close to 30% of our current debt. ···(omitted)··· We have suffered that much damage, so why aren’t they giving us proper compensation?” From an interview with restaurant owner Seong Nak-hoon In order to compensate for losses due to the ban on gatherings during the COVID-19 period, the government began paying compensation starting July 7, 2021. However, there was no compensation for damages in 2020 and the first half of 2021. Some merchants are waiting for the Constitutional Court’s ruling on retroactive compensation for losses, saying that they have fallen into deep debt due to COVID-19 but have not even received proper compensation. ■ The reality that even closing down a business is not easy For self-employed business owners who find it difficult to handle their debts, the last option is to close down their business. The number of “yellow umbrella” payments, which return the amount paid during the business period plus interest when closing down, increased significantly by 48% over four years, from 75,000 cases in 2019 to 111,000 cases in 2023. The number of business closures is increasing day by day. However, the process of closing a business is not easy. When closing a business, the existing facilities must be demolished and the store must be restored to its pre-lease state, which is not cheap. The government is providing up to 2.5 million won in store demolition costs for small business owners who are going out of business, but the self-employed claim that it is far from enough. “It seems like more and more business closures are happening. At first, it was mainly cafes, but now it is academies, offices, various restaurants. Even large franchises…” - Interview with Lee Ho-young, CEO of a demolition company Even if the self-employed have difficulty closing a business, there is not much they can do. Lee Yoon-chae, who ran a restaurant and a pub with his mother and younger brother in Seongnam, ended up in debt of 200 million won as sales dropped significantly after COVID-19. The Lee family, who had to pay off their debt immediately, eventually decided to close the business and are preparing to open a new restaurant. The reality is that even if the self-employed have difficulty closing a business, if they cannot find a suitable job, they have to go down the difficult path of self-employment again. The government has introduced policies such as 'mutual finance' that refunds part of bank interest income to self-employed people suffering from high interest rates and 'refinancing loans' that allow them to switch to lower interest rates. However, some self-employed people say that