Yang Gi-dae "Legislation for Toll Exemption During Seol and Chuseok Holidays... Resolving Populism Controversy"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Wondara] A bill has been proposed to legalize the exemption of highway tolls during the Lunar New Year and Chuseok holidays.

Yang Gidae, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea (Gyeonggi Gwangmyeong), announced on the 23rd that he had proposed the "Partial Amendment to the Toll Road Act" containing this provision.

The amendment stipulates by law the exemption of highway tolls, which was previously discretionary, so that tolls are always exempted without separate government decisions. Previously, it was limited to "days designated by presidential decree such as Lunar New Year and Chuseok." The amendment also includes an exception clause allowing the government not to exempt highway tolls in the event of national disasters such as the resurgence of COVID-19, subject to the resolution of the State Council.

Yang's office explained, "We aimed to clearly stipulate the exemption of highway tolls in the law to increase predictability from the public's perspective," and added, "We want to dispel some claims that highway toll exemption is populism." Yang said, "The reduction of highway tolls during the Lunar New Year and Chuseok holidays has been continuously implemented as a livelihood stabilization measure since January 2018," but added, "Now, we judged that legalization is necessary."

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