National Assembly Passes Over 60 Bills Including '5% Operating Profit Fine for Repeated Industrial Accidents' Amendment to Occupational Safety and Health Act

Debate Over Occupational Safety and Health Act Amendment

Bipartisan Rural Structure Improvement Special Account Bill Rejected

The National Assembly held a plenary session on October 1 and processed more than 60 agenda items, including proposed partial amendments to the Industrial Safety and Health Act. However, the amendment to the Special Account Act for Agricultural and Fishing Village Structural Improvement—which aimed to expand the scope of transfers from the Rural Special Tax project account to the Special Account for Balanced Regional Development—was voted down, despite being a bipartisan agreement.

On this day, the National Assembly processed a total of 64 agenda items, including the amendment to the Industrial Safety and Health Act (SanAn Act), most of which were non-controversial bills that both parties had agreed to process. The amendment to the Urban and Residential Environment Improvement Act, which had originally been scheduled for consideration and was even discussed as a possible subject for unlimited discussion (filibuster), was postponed.

Yonhap News Agency

The People Power Party participated in a debate opposing the amendment to the SanAn Act. The amendment includes provisions to impose a penalty of up to 5% of operating profit on companies where a major industrial accident resulting in three or more deaths occurs within a year. The People Power Party argues that the penalty level is excessive and insists that a cap should be set.

Kim Wisang, a People Power Party assemblyman with a background in labor, stated, "Imposing a penalty equal to 5% of operating profit goes too far," adding, "If this were applied to the country’s two main semiconductor companies, the total penalty would exceed 30 trillion won. We need to consider whether society can withstand the economic side effects caused by this unreasonable application."

In contrast, Lee Yongwoo, a Democratic Party assemblyman and certified labor attorney, countered, "The imposition of this penalty will apply only to a very small number of companies, and the amount will be determined appropriately, considering the degree and prevention efforts. The standard is operating profit, not total sales," he said. "Distorting the law as if trillions of won, or even several hundreds of billions, will be imposed is a complete misrepresentation."

Ultimately, the amendment to the SanAn Act passed with the majority-holding Democratic Party leading the vote: of 219 in attendance, 161 voted in favor, 52 opposed, and 6 abstained. Assemblyman Kim Jooyoung of the Democratic Party said, "This amendment is a unified adjustment alternative that synthesizes several bills proposed by multiple assembly members," and added, "It contains various considerations for the prevention of industrial accidents."

In addition, the plenary session also passed the so-called "emergency room roundabout prevention law," an amendment to the Emergency Medical Services Act. This bill restructures the emergency medical system to include transfers and emergency room treatment, and reduces criminal liability for emergency care. In addition, the amendment to the Act on Prevention of Livestock Infectious Diseases was passed, raising the maximum payout limit for reduced culling compensation from 80% to 90% of the livestock appraisal value, and allowing up to 100% compensation to farms that first report major livestock epidemics.

Other follow-up bills related to the launch of the Jeonnam-Gwangju Integrated Special City also passed the plenary session. Seven additional bills—including the Act on the Basic Management of Local Government Funds—cleared the hurdle. The day’s agenda also included amendments to the National Pension Act and the Narcotics Control Act, among others.

Meanwhile, attention was drawn when the amendment to the Special Account Act for Agricultural and Fishing Village Structural Improvement, sponsored by Democratic Party assemblyman Lee Gaeho, was voted down at the plenary session—of 222 present, 94 voted in favor, 60 opposed, and 68 abstained. It is somewhat unusual for a bill that had been scheduled for the plenary session through bipartisan agreement to be rejected.

Democratic Party assemblyman Kim Younghwan, speaking in the opposition debate, commented, "This amendment seeks to retroactively legitimize what is, in fact, an unlawful transfer lacking legal grounds and unrelated to the purpose of supporting farmers and fishermen. The Special Account for Regional Balanced Development should rightfully be compensated from the general account."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.