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President Lee Myung-bak on Monday promised to help homeowners facing repossession as a result of the financial crisis. Lee was quoted by the Grand National Party spokesman Cha Myung-jin as saying, "If those, who have plunged into poverty recently are evicted from their homes, I'll make sure that they don't need to worry about housing and even help them live in unsold apartments."
The Ministry of Strategy and Finance said the government will provide relief funds for the legal minimum cost of living -- W1.32 million (US$1=W1,364) per month for a family of four -- for up to four months if a self-employed family breadwinner goes bankrupt or becomes unable to support his or her family due to bankruptcy, injuries or illness.
The ministry will increase the number of target households for emergency welfare support by 26 percent, from this year's 31,000 to 39,000 next year.
Self-employed people on welfare will receive about W3 million for medical expenses for their family and up to W1.11 million per child for primary and secondary school education annually, as well as living expenses.
The government will also provide give breadwinners with small businesses earning less than W48 million a year or blue-collar workers with a loan of up to W6 million per year for their living expenses at a low interest rate of 3.4 percent, to be repaid in installments over three years, if they are laid off. Some 25,000 family breadwinners are to benefit next year.
The government will further relax the upper limit of family breadwinners' income and property as a criterion to give welfare benefits to more low-income earners, while expanding the eligible group by about 100,000 from this year's 1.53 million. It will give unemployment benefits to more than 1.2 million people next year.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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