`Nat`l Happiness Fund` launched to help credit deliquents

A state-run “National Happiness Fund” was launched Friday as part of a debt rescheduling program, pledged by President Park Geun-hye to help the underprivileged.

In a ceremony at the headquarters of the state-run Korea Asset Management Corp. in southern Seoul to mark the launch, Prime Minister Chung Hong-won asked the agency to make the fund “a ladder of hope that leads to happiness for debt-ridden people in low-income brackets.”

The aim of the fund is to write off 50 to 70 percent of credit loans worth less than a combined 100 million won (89,928 U.S. dollars) and at least six months delinquent as of February, while allowing repayment of the remainder within 10 years.

The Financial Services Commission, the country’s main financial regulator, expects to reschedule debts owed by 326,000 people and convert high-interest loans into lower-interest ones for about 340,000 people. Commission Chairman Shin Je-yoon said that the number of beneficiaries could increase as operating the fund.

Applications for debt rescheduling program will be accepted from April 22 through Oct. 31 via online and offline channels. When an application is accepted, debt collection by lenders will be stopped. Applications for debt conversions will be taken from Monday.

crystal@donga.com