The World On arirang

South Korea's self-employed business owners are finding themselves in dire straits, facing a double whammy of falling revenues and rising debt burdens. As of the second quarter of 2018, total outstanding debt owed by the country's self-employed topped 590 trillion won, with 70 percent of all new business shutting down within the first 5 years of operation. Their troubles have been exacerbated by economic factors such as the hike in minimum wage, rising cost of rent and a general downturn in consumption, as well as social changes such as the growing number of single-person households and a reduction in working hours. With South Korean President Moon Jae-in vowing supportive measures for the self-employed during his New Year's address, what more can be done to save these businesses from the crisis? In this week's edition of "Foreign Correspondents", we sit down with our panel of journalists to discuss this issue in more detail.

Panelists

Frédéric Ojardias, Journalist / RFI

Frank Smith, Correspondent / Press TV

Kelly Kasulis, Journalist / PRI