8 Economic Organizations "Serious Accidents Punishment Act, Difficult to Handle"... Request to Halt Legislation (Comprehensive)

Kim Ki-moon, President of the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business (fourth from the left), is delivering a statement at the "Press Conference on the Economic Organizations' Position to Suspend Legislation of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act" held on the 22nd at the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business in Yeouido, Seoul. Attending the press conference were President Kim, Sohn Kyung-shik, President of the Korea Employers Federation, Kim Young-joo, President of the Korea International Trade Association, Kim Young-yoon, President of the Korea Specialty Contractors Association, Woo Tae-hee, Executive Vice President of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Kwon Tae-shin, Executive Vice President of the Federation of Korean Industries, and Park Won-ik, Executive Vice President of the Korea Association of Mid-sized Companies. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kiho Sung] Eight economic organizations, including the Korea Employers Federation (KEF), have requested a reconsideration of the enactment of the "Serious Accidents Punishment Act," stating that it is "an excessively burdensome over-legislation from the perspective of the business community."

These economic organizations held a press conference on the 22nd at the Korea Federation of SMEs in Yeouido, Seoul, stating, "We appeal to halt the enactment of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act so that companies can overcome the COVID-19 crisis and focus on job creation."

Attending the press conference were KEF Chairman Kyung-sik Son, Korea Federation of SMEs Chairman Ki-moon Kim, Korea International Trade Association Chairman Young-joo Kim, Korea Specialty Contractors Association Chairman Young-yoon Kim, Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry Executive Vice Chairman Tae-hee Woo, Federation of Korean Industries Executive Vice Chairman Tae-shin Kwon, Korea Association of Mid-sized Enterprises Executive Vice Chairman Won-ik Ban, and the Korea Construction Association also participated.

KEF Chairman Kyung-sik Son emphasized, "Businesspeople need to work hard and manage accidents if they occur, but there is great concern about what will happen if only punishment is imposed," adding, "We must make more efforts to prevent serious accidents. No country enforces only strict punishment."

Chairman Son continued, "Two months ago, there was a fatal accident during logistics work at CJ Logistics. To prevent such accidents, we have introduced more automated equipment from abroad and increased manpower. The total investment cost reached 180 billion won. According to the Serious Accidents Punishment Act, the CEO would be detained, but can such preventive activities be actively carried out under these circumstances?"

Korea International Trade Association Chairman Young-joo Kim also stressed, "Looking at the recent pace of technological development, technologies that can detect and prevent safety accidents in advance through AI, IoT, and big data are advancing," adding, "It would be more efficient for the government and companies to work together to develop and distribute these technologies in industrial sites."

If the Serious Accidents Punishment Act, which focuses on strengthening criminal punishment for employers regarding safety accidents, is enforced, employers and management officials will face imprisonment from a minimum of 2 years to 5 years in the event of industrial accident fatalities. This is higher than the imprisonment of up to 6 months in the United States and Japan. Especially compared to the UK’s Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act, which is the model for this law and imposes corporate fines rather than employer punishment, this is considered excessive.

Korea Federation of SMEs Chairman Ki-moon Kim said, "We in the business community deeply agree that human life and safety are precious and that serious accidents must be prevented," but pointed out, "However, the Serious Accidents Punishment Act places all responsibility for occurrence on the management."

Korea Specialty Contractors Association Chairman Young-yoon Kim also stated, "The construction industry frequently works outdoors and is highly exposed to nature, so unexpected accidents sometimes occur," adding, "This bill imposes excessively harsh punishment on employers compared to advanced countries. For industrial accident prevention, rather than strengthening punishment, please carefully consider enacting the law with improvements focused on prevention and supervision."

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