The Korea Insurance Development Institute (KIDI) has announced that it is working to develop the nation's first pet insurance model.

With the new insurance model, dog and cat owners can get a payout of about KRW1.5m ($1,340) by paying KRW20,000 a month, among other benefits, reports Korea Biomedical Review.

With rising income, changing times, and shifting perspectives on animal rights, more than 10 million Koreans currently have pets. The number of animal pets has grown 83% from 4.7m in 2010 to 8.7m in 2010. Concern over pet health is becoming increasingly widespread in Korea. The number of animal hospitals dedicated to diagnosing and treating pets have also been increasing in the country.

Despite the explosive growth of pets, services aimed at pets have been criticised for being insufficient. Pet insurance has been called particularly lacklustre with many owners citing that they struggled with financial difficulties due to a lack of pet insurance when their pets fell ill.

KIDI is a not-for-profit membership corporation established to protect the interests of policyholders and contribute towards the development of the insurance industry.