Losing 3 fingers 'not a disability': report

Recent government data has indicated the threshold of disability registration in South Korea remains high, as local media reported Friday that over 110,000 applications for disability registration over the past four years were not accepted by the government.

From 2021 to June of this year, there have been 814,437 applications for disability registration, news agency Newsis reported, citing National Pension Service data submitted to Rep. Choi Bo-yun of the People Power Party. Of those, 123,816 cases, or 15.2 percent, have not been registered.

The sizable portion of rejections has sparked complaints from local groups that the standard to be acknowledged as having disability is too high. The Korea Federation of Organization of the Disabled told the news outlet that there has even been a case where a person who lost three fingers was not accepted.

South Korea had used a six-level disability rating until it was changed in July 2019 to a two-level rating system based on whether or not the disability is severe. In the case of the aforementioned triple finger loss, "disabilities that are not severe" included a person who lost a thumb, who lost two fingers on a single hand including the second finger and who lost the third, fourth and fifth finger on a single hand.

This means a person who loses three fingers on both hands does not meet the criteria.

An overwhelming majority of cases that were denied disability -- 114,630 -- was deemed not meeting criteria for disability registration. Of the remaining cases, 8,032 cases were put on hold due to the applicant not receiving treatment for the required amount of time, while 1,154 cases did not have the documents to verify the disability claim.

Choi, who has an intellectual disability herself, pointed out that the 5.2 percent disability prevalence rate was significantly lower than the 24.2 percent of all member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

"Disability registration is not merely an administrative process, but it's the starting point of people with disabilities receiving essential welfare benefits from society," she was quoted as saying, calling for an extra budget and system overhaul for the standards of determining who has disabilities.