(Image: Kobiz Media/Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, Feb. 23 (Korea Bizwire) — In Seoul, most of those who filed for personal bankruptcy were older than 50 years and single-person households accounted for more than a half of them, the city-run welfare center said Tuesday.
The number of personal bankruptcy applications filed with the Seoul Bankruptcy Court last year totaled 10,873, up 15.8 percent from the pre-COVID-19 year of 2019, according to the Seoul Financial Welfare Counseling Center.
The number of personal bankruptcy applications via the center stood at 1,290 cases, accounting for 11.8 percent of the total applications filed to the bankruptcy court.
As a result of the center’s analysis of 1,075 cases, the data showed that 85.4 percent of the applicants were over 50 years of age.
By family type, single-person households accounted for the largest share at 58 percent, up 8 percentage points from a year ago.
By size of debt, the largest proportion of 23.3 percent had debts ranging from 50 million won (US$41,880) to 100 million won.
In response to a question asking for the reason for their debts, 46 percent picked an inability to cover living expenses, followed by 21.3 percent who cited the bankruptcy of their business.
Other factors that resulted in personal bankruptcies included the repayment of high interest rate debts, abrupt loss of employment, and a decline in income due to business failure.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
