The Democratic Party of Korea will introduce climate insurance as a pledge for the June 3 local elections, providing insurance payouts to daily wage workers and traditional market small business owners who lose work during heatwaves and heavy rain.
Han Jeoung-ae, chair of the party's policy committee, and other policy officials announced five key visions and 15 policy tasks on Thursday as local election pledges, including the introduction of climate insurance.
The Democratic Party highlighted climate insurance as one of its signature pledges. Climate insurance is a non-life insurance policy purchased by local governments, with municipalities paying the entire premium. "It is an insurance system designed to reduce economic losses and help restore daily life quickly in preparation for disasters and damages caused by the climate crisis," Han said. "When abnormal weather conditions such as heatwaves and heavy rain reach a certain threshold, fixed insurance payouts are made without loss assessment procedures."
The insurance targets small business owners in traditional markets, public construction daily wage workers, and the elderly. "When it rains heavily, traditional markets effectively have to close," Han said. "Through climate insurance, we want to cover a portion of their daily sales." She added, "Construction daily wage workers also see their work reduced depending on the weather. We plan to extend insurance benefits to workers at publicly commissioned construction sites as well."
The Democratic Party explained that it will pursue the climate insurance policy as a pilot program and gradually expand the scope of beneficiaries and coverage levels based on results.
This aligns with the Financial Services Commission's (FSC) efforts under the Lee Jae-myung administration to develop mutual-benefit insurance products based on inclusive finance principles. In March, the FSC signed a memorandum of understanding with the insurance industry and local governments to launch free mutual-benefit insurance for regional small business owners and vulnerable groups. At that time, the FSC announced plans to launch various insurance products, including construction site climate insurance (Jeju) that compensates daily wage workers for income losses when work is suspended due to heatwaves, cyber care insurance (North Chungcheong) that covers damages from direct-transaction fraud affecting small business owners, and fire liability insurance for small restaurants (South Gyeongsang).
The Democratic Party also introduced other major pledges, including expanding solar income villages, designating mega special zones, introducing the Our Children's Independence Fund, and expanding supportive housing.
