People Power Party's Im Ija: "Justice Party's Serious Accident Bill Has Many Issues... Will Propose Our Own Bill"

"Many Violations of Principles Such as Nullum Crimen Sine Lege, Proportionality, and Responsibility"
Self-Prepared Legislation at the Labor Innovation Special Committee Level

Im I-ja, a member of the People Power Party, is attending and questioning at the National Assembly's Environment and Labor Committee's audit on the Economic and Social Labor Committee held on the 15th. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Cheol-eung] Im I-ja, a member of the opposition and the National Assembly Environment and Labor Committee, stated that the Justice Party's Serious Accident Corporate Punishment Act (Serious Accident Act) "has many issues that do not align with the basic legal system and is somewhat rough," and announced plans to introduce its own bill to prevent industrial accidents. Although the leadership of the People Power Party has expressed agreement with the purpose of enacting the Serious Accident Act, there appear to be significant differences in the details.

On the 12th, Im said in a phone interview with Asia Economy, "The foundation of the rule of law must not be shaken, and the content must be clear according to the principle of legality, but the Justice Party's Serious Accident Act has many ambiguous parts," adding, "There are also parts that violate the principles of prohibition of excess and responsibility. We plan to separately propose a People Power Party bill."

She continued, "While the severity of sentencing should be increased to prevent repeated industrial accidents, it is problematic to go so far as to alter the basic criminal law framework." The People Power Party is preparing a 'Labor Innovation Special Committee' involving members of the Environment and Labor Committee and labor-management organizations, where they plan to discuss bills to prevent serious accidents.

Im said, "After gathering opinions and consultations within the party, we will decide whether to proceed under the name of the Labor Innovation Committee or as a party stance," and added, "We will keep all options open, including enacting a new Serious Accident Act or amending the existing Industrial Safety and Health Act."

The business community is opposing the Justice Party's Serious Accident Act. Im conveyed, "I have received quite a few concerned calls about the party being known to support the Justice Party's bill."

The Serious Accident Corporate Punishment Act, proposed by Justice Party lawmaker Kang Eun-mi in June, imposes risk prevention obligations on companies and stipulates that if a fatal accident occurs due to violation, the business owner and management responsible may face imprisonment for more than three years or fines ranging from 50 million to 1 billion won. For injury accidents, penalties include imprisonment for up to seven years or fines up to 100 million won. It also holds business owners, corporations, or institutions liable for punitive damages amounting to three to ten times the damage.

Heo Byung-jo, a specialist at the National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee, stated in a review report on the bill, "The scope of the duty to prevent harm and risk is unclear, so in the event of a serious accident, criminal liability may be imposed in the absence of special circumstances, effectively recognizing outcome liability. This not only violates the principle of responsibility but may also lead to a contraction of corporate activities."

He also pointed out, "It is necessary to consider that the statutory penalties are relatively high compared to similar types of negligence or violations of safety obligations."

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