Korea set to introduce insurance for social ills

South Korea’s financial regulator is planning to allow insurers to sell policies covering social ills such as domestic and school violence starting this year, industry sources said Tuesday.

According to the sources, the Financial Services Commission is pushing to introduce the insurance products as part of broader efforts to cover damages related to such social problems.

President Park Geun-hye has been focusing on eradicating what she called the four major social ills threatening public safety ― sexual violence, school violence, domestic violence and substandard food ― by implementing punitive and administrative measures.

The industry sources said up to 100,000 socially vulnerable citizens will be allowed to subscribe to such a insurance policy for free as the government will set up a fund to cover the insurance payments. Other citizens will be able to buy them starting in April at the earliest, the sources said.

The regulator said it is working on the plan but that details have yet been decided. (Yonhap)