Lee Hyo-jin covers the Bank of Korea, the banking industry and broader financial news. Her previous beats include foreign affairs, North Korea and general reporting on Korean society.
Gyeonggi Province refuses to provide disaster relief fund to foreigners
Migrants and local activists protest in Gwanghwamun, central Seoul, urging local governments to provide disaster relief funds to foreign residents, April 26. Yonhap
By Lee Hyo-jin
By Lee Hyo-jin
Gyeonggi Provincial Government has refused the state-run human rights agency's recommendation to provide COVID-19 disaster relief funds to foreign residents, according to the National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK), Thursday.
The commission said Gyeonggi Province has not revised its disaster relief fund policy to include all foreign residents with registered addresses in the area, although the local government had been advised to do so since May.
“The provincial government told us that they find it difficult to subsidize all foreign residents due to budget constraints and complicated procedures involving revisions to related ordinances,” the commission said in a press release. The local government said it plans to “comprehensively review the policy and look into possible measures in the long term,” according to the commission.
Earlier in March, Gyeonggi Province and Seoul City came up with relief fund plans to ease residents' financial difficulties that arose as a result of the pandemic, but foreign residents were excluded.
In the case of Gyeonggi, it only provided 100,000 won ($89) to marriage migrants and foreign nationals with permanent resident status, who accounted for approximately 18 percent of the total foreign residents in the area, following requests from the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family.
The human rights watchdog then advised the province to expand the one-time, unconditional disaster relief subsidy to all registered foreigners. It pointed out that they have the same rights as Korean nationals to receive the local government's administrative benefits, according to Articles 12 and 13 of the Local Autonomy Law.
The NHRCK also noted that the Seoul Metropolitan Government, which had also received the same recommendation in May, has accepted its advice.
Seoul City announced in August it would include foreign residents in its disaster relief plan. Eligible households were allowed to apply for a lump-sum payment of between 300,000 won and 500,000 won, depending on the number of family members. It also provided translated versions of related websites in English and Chinese.
Lee Han-suk, head of the Migrants and Human Rights Institution, pointed out that the disaster relief money scheme is not only about giving financial aid, but also showing the country's acceptance of foreigners.
“This is one of the many discriminative policies showing that foreign residents are not being represented enough even though they have become an important part of our society. Even legal foreign residents who have been paying taxes for years were excluded from the list of beneficiaries,” Lee told The Korea Times.
She stressed the importance of foreigner-related policies of Seoul City and Gyeonggi Province, as the two areas have the country's largest foreign populations.
“The two local governments should establish fair policies that can set a good precedent so that other municipal and provincial governments are encouraged to follow suit. The current COVID-19 disaster relief money plans are likely to be applied to similar disaster situations in the future.”