Voices to Supplement the Democratic Party's '3% Rule'... "No Corporate Passing"

Yang Hyang-ja, Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker. Photo by Kang Jin-hyeong aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Cheol-eung] Within the Democratic Party of Korea, voices calling for amendments to the so-called "3% rule," the biggest issue among the "Economic 3 Laws (Commercial Act, Fair Trade Act, and Financial Group Integrated Supervision Act)," are emerging.

Yang Hyang-ja, a Supreme Council member of the Democratic Party, stated at the Supreme Council meeting on the 12th, "The 3% rule in the separate election system for audit committee members needs to be carefully examined. If there is a possibility that our companies could suffer damage from overseas speculative capital, it must be supplemented."

She added, "The purpose of the Fair Economy 3 Laws is not to strangle companies. The goal is to enhance corporate capabilities by increasing management transparency and to improve market fairness," and said, "No matter how good the cause is, it cannot justify ignoring the stakeholders of this law." She continued, "If companies are alienated, that is not fair either. There will never be a case where the bill is forcibly pushed through by bypassing the stakeholders," emphasizing this point.

Supreme Council member Yang, a former executive at Samsung Electronics, has taken on the role of a bridge between corporations and the political sphere. Among the amendments to the Commercial Act, the provision to separately elect audit committee members and to recognize only 3% of voting rights by aggregating the shares of the largest shareholder and related parties has drawn the strongest opposition from the business community. The Democratic Party has formed its own task force (TF) to conduct simulations and assess the realism of the business community's concerns, and plans to meet with business representatives on the 14th and 15th for consultations.

Yang said, "We will focus discussions on the 3% rule. We will do our best to listen to opinions. If there are parts that need to be supplemented, we will obtain public consent and make amendments," adding, "We will uphold the principles of management transparency and economic democratization, and gather wisdom to protect our companies from speculative capital."

She also said, "I believe the business community agrees with the direction of the Fair Economy 3 Laws. They can sufficiently handle the overall content, and have already been managing such matters." This suggests that if only certain parts, such as the 3% rule, among the amendments to the Commercial Act, Fair Trade Act, and the enactment of the Financial Group Integrated Supervision Act are negotiated and adjusted, there is no need for overall concern.

The Democratic Party's stance is to base the 3% rule on the government's proposed bill, and if supplementation is necessary after their own simulation results and various opinion-gathering processes, they will take appropriate measures.

At the Democratic Party's Supreme Council workshop the previous day, opinions were also exchanged regarding the "Economic 3 Laws." Chief Spokesperson Choi In-ho said at a briefing after the workshop, "We will definitely pass the Fair Economy 3 Laws and the Conflict of Interest Prevention Act within the regular session of the National Assembly," and added, "We reaffirmed that while continuing to listen to voices from the field, we will proceed with the Fair Economy 3 Laws while maintaining principles."

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