More than nine out of ten Incheon residents said citizen safety insurance is necessary. The Incheon Metropolitan Government (Mayor Park Chan-dae) announced that, according to a survey on the operation of its citizen safety insurance, 94% of respondents agreed on the need for the policy, while 91% assessed it as helpful in protecting residents against disasters and accidents.
 [코리안투데이] Results of the Incheon Citizen Safety Insurance resident survey © 장형임 기자 |
The survey was conducted from August 3 to 9, 2026, among 5,108 residents to gauge public awareness of the citizen safety insurance and gather opinions on improvements. Survey items included awareness of the insurance and how respondents learned of it, the coverage items they found helpful, additional coverage items they hoped for, appropriate coverage amounts, and directions for improvement.
On the need for the policy, 72% answered ‘strongly agree’ and 22% ‘agree’, meaning 94% of all respondents replied positively. Responses that the insurance helps protect residents against disasters and accidents also reached 91%, with 64% answering ‘strongly agree’ and 27% ‘agree’, showing that the citizen safety insurance has formed a broad consensus as a safety policy.
The most helpful coverage item was ‘injury while using public transportation’ at 30%, followed by ‘injury from explosion, fire or collapse’ at 26%, ‘injury from natural disasters’ at 15%, and ‘injury from social disasters’ at 10%. This indicates that residents seek coverage in disaster and safety areas that are closely tied to daily life and keenly felt.
Among additional coverage items respondents wanted, ‘death and permanent disability from ground subsidence (land settlement)’ ranked highest at 47%, followed by ‘diagnosis costs for heat-related illness’ at 34%. This reflects that residents perceive ground subsidence and heat-wave-related risks, which have drawn growing social attention recently, as new safety threats.
Regarding appropriate coverage amounts, for the death benefit 38% favored ‘maintaining the current 20 million won’ while 60% wanted ‘raising the coverage limit’; for the permanent disability benefit, 38% likewise favored ‘maintaining the current 20 million won’ and 59% wanted ‘raising the coverage limit’, confirming public demand for an overall strengthening of coverage levels.
At the same time, alongside the strong agreement on the need for the insurance, opinions were raised that reasonable operation reflecting fiscal conditions is necessary. In open-ended responses, some said coverage items with low benefit-utilization rates should be reorganized, others said coverage that overlaps with private insurance or with the liability of responsible parties should be examined for efficiency, and still others said indiscriminate expansion of items should be avoided.
Based on the survey results, Incheon plans to overhaul its 2027 citizen safety insurance operation plan and to pursue next year’s insurance contract in consideration of the city’s fiscal conditions.
Sim Yeon-sam, head of the city’s Citizen Safety Headquarters, said, ‘Through this survey, we confirmed that the citizen safety insurance is winning broad public support as a policy that protects residents from unexpected disasters and accidents.’ He added, ‘We will strengthen the coverage that residents actually need while also considering fiscal conditions and the efficiency of running the system, so as to operate a citizen safety insurance that is genuinely effective.’
Meanwhile, the Incheon Citizen Safety Insurance is a system under which all residents registered in Incheon are automatically enrolled without any separate application procedure, including registered foreign residents and foreign nationals with reported domestic residence (overseas Koreans). In 2026, it provides coverage of up to 20 million won across a total of 16 items, including natural and social disasters, explosion, fire and collapse, injury while using public transportation, and injury involving personal mobility devices.
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