Government’s Five-Year Welfare Plan

The right of inheritance will be limited if a person responsible for supporting a family refuses to perform his or her duty to support a disabled and old family member.

The government will subsidize childcare of children under four years from those who earn less than 70 percent of the urban workers’ average income.

The government yesterday held a cabinet meeting and declared a five-year welfare plan starting from this year. The plan was created by six ministries: the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Ministry of Labor, the Ministry of Construction and Transportation, the Ministry of Information and Communication, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and the Ministry of Gender Equality.

According to the plan, the right of inheritance of a person who does not perform his or her duty to take care of a disabled old family member shall be limited. Not only that, the government will take care of the neglected member, and the cost will be charged to an obliged person.

The number of people who will be supported with childcare cost will increase from the current 120,000 to 390,000 by 2008. The measure is designed to increase the birth rate. Those who earn less than 50 percent of the average urban workers’ income will be subsidized 100 percent of childcare cost, and those who earn 50 to 70 percent will be subsidized more than half of the childcare cost.

To promote the giving culture, limits for income tax deduction given to donation money will be lifted, and a deduction rate will increase from 10 percent to 20 percent. In addition, the government is considering including donation items such as goods, services, knowledge, and techniques for the deduction.

The government also decided to introduce a stock-option style ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan) by 2005. Employees will be given a right to purchase their companies’ stock at a certain price. The measure is aimed at helping employees accumulate wealth.

Employees will be able to buy or sell stock options at a certain price after two years of holding options. They do not have to buy the stock if the price is lower than a certain price, considerably decreasing the risks of ESOP. The government will give incentives such as tax breaks to companies that adopt the plan.

The number of beneficiaries of the government allowance for the disabled will rise to 320,000, up from 140,000. The government will also stipulate a law prohibiting discrimination against the disabled in 2005. Starting from this year, a workplace with more than 50 employees must employ the disabled. The government’s goal is that the disabled must account for more than two percent of total employees.

The discounted tour rate that is currently applied only to the disabled will be expanded to include young breadwinners and beneficiaries of the Livelihood Protection Law. Other measures will also be taken to meet the needs of the marginalized.

Seong-Ju Lee stein33@donga.com