“Government blocked business, compensate for losses”… Hope house and PC cafe owners’constitutional wishes’

Input 2021.01.05 15:23 | Revision 2021.01.05 15:32

On the 5th, civic groups such as the Participation Solidarity and business owners such as pubs and PC cafes filed a constitutional petition on the 5th, stating that there is no loss compensation regulation for business restrictions to prevent the spread of coronavirus infection.

On this day, organizations such as the Merchant’s Meeting (Mam Sang-mo), the Korean Federation of Small and Medium Business Owners, and the National Association of Allied Residents held a press conference in front of the Constitutional Court on the same day and said, As there was no provision for the basis of this, it violated the basic rights such as property rights and equal rights of self-employed persons.

Han Mo, who participated as a claimant in this Constitutional petition while operating a pub in Mapo-gu, Seoul, said, “I am not trying to undermine the quarantine authorities’ efforts to prevent the spread of corona. We have been willing to cooperate with business restrictions, but we cannot withstand any longer.” .

He said, “In September of last year, sales amounted to only 42.1% compared to the previous year, and December sales, which usually attract customers, were only 2.8% from 57 million won in 2019 to 1.6 million won last year.”

Han said last year’s annual sales amounted to about 280 million won, which was 57.7% of the previous year, but he called for a substantial loss compensation and active measures to reduce the rent of the mall, saying that it is in a situation that the rental fee for the mall is 7 million won per month.

“The Infectious Disease Prevention Act is already compensating for losses if fishing is restricted,” said Kim Nam-joo, a lawyer representing the constitutional petition. “There are no measures to compensate for losses in the law and public notice only for corona business restrictions. It is a violation of the principle.”

He added, “The method for preventing infectious diseases without compensation for losses is a clear legislative omission (if the constitution has not legislated even though the constitution has explicitly delegated legislative rights to guarantee basic rights), and each local government notification based on this is an unconstitutional measure.”

As the government’s step 2.5 of social distancing was extended again, complaints of self-employed people increased. Earlier, on the 2nd, the government announced measures to extend social distancing in the metropolitan area 2.5 steps and 2 steps nationwide, and in the case of Taekwondo, it allowed classes for less than 9 people to compensate for the care gap, but announced that it would keep group bans at indoor sports facilities except for him .

As a result, some gym owners protested, saying, “We will open the gym door.” The Korea Fitness Managers Association announced on the 4th that about 1,000 fitness center operators nationwide started operating protests, and 500 people started a business to accept customers by paying fines and following quarantine rules.