The extreme choice of self-employed people who have suffered a severe blow to their sales due to the continued ban on gatherings and restrictions on business hours after the corona crisis is increasing.
At least 22 cases of extreme choices were collected by the Self-Employed Emergency Response Committee over three days.
The investigation was conducted after a self-employed man who had been running a beer bar for over 20 years in Mapo-gu, Seoul was found dead in the store.
From a woman in her 60s who made an extreme choice after following the government's quarantine guidelines, who made an extreme choice, to a young man in his 20s who took to the streets with a sign asking him to fight back, saying that he could no longer endure it.
Critics say that the government's intensive quarantine measures, such as an order to ban gatherings and restrictions on business, that have lasted for over a year and a half, have pushed the self-employed to the brink.
The amount of self-employed loans, which stood at 699 trillion won in March last year, during the early stages of the coronavirus, surpassed 858 trillion won as of the end of June, and has increased by 158 trillion won in one year.
So far, the government has introduced five support measures for small business owners and the self-employed.
In the first to fourth rounds, about 1 to 5 million won in cash was provided, and the 5th support recently expanded to 4 to 20 million won, but the self-employed say that the monthly rent is only two or three months' worth.
Even the belated compensation plan was not applied retroactively before last July, and the amount of compensation was only 80%, which is still insufficient.
The self-employed non-captain began to sit indefinitely in front of the government building, demanding that the quarantine guidelines be lifted.
"We can no longer trust the government, which has been lukewarm about compensation, repeating only the executive order that punishes the self-employed for the second year," he said.
This week SBS <News Story> would like to meet the self-employed who have reached their limit due to the prolonged corona crisis and focus on the problems of government support measures and quarantine measures centered on distancing.