[Exclusive] Democratic Party to Promote Service Development Act Excluding Remote Medical Care... Focus on 'Economic Innovation' Legislation

Concerns Over Medical Commercialization Still Burden
Intensive Review of Innovation Bills Proposed by the Chamber

Hong Nam-ki, Deputy Prime Minister for Economy and Minister of Economy and Finance, is giving a lecture on the topic of "Service Industry Trends and Policy Directions" at the "Service Industry Federation Early Dinner Lecture" held on July 5, 2019, at the Press Center in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Cheol-eung] The Democratic Party of Korea plans to push for the passage of the Service Industry Development Framework Act without the remote medical care allowance provision at the next extraordinary session of the National Assembly. This law, which sets the direction for the promotion of various service industries including health and medical care, has failed to pass the National Assembly for 10 years due to concerns over medical commercialization. Excluding the controversial health and medical care sections, consensus between the ruling and opposition parties is expected to be easier, making the law’s passage likely. The Democratic Party views the completion of fair economy legislation as a milestone and is shifting its focus to 'economic innovation' legislation from now on.

On the 6th, Yoo Dong-su, the senior deputy chairman of the Democratic Party’s Policy Committee, said in a phone interview with Asia Economy, "Since fair economy tasks have been legislated to some extent, we will now emphasize innovation and promote it as a key legislative agenda," adding, "We will seriously review the innovation legislative proposals submitted by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry last month." Yoo also stated, "If the legislative tasks so far were about leveling the playing field, from now on we intend to remove all stones and barbed wire so that people can run freely."

The key laws the Democratic Party plans to focus on include the Service Industry Development Framework Act, the Corporate Digital Transformation Act, the Industrial Convergence Promotion Act, the Non-face-to-face Small and Medium Venture Business Promotion Act, and other K-New Deal initiatives. A senior Democratic Party official said, "We are organizing economic innovation tasks including the bills requested by the Chamber of Commerce and those deemed necessary by the party."

The Service Industry Development Act involves establishing a systematic nurturing system at the government level, such as research and development (R&D) investment and professional workforce training, and creating legal grounds for overseas expansion. Since its government proposal in 2011, discussions have continued, but it was stalled mainly due to controversy over provisions allowing remote medical care, which raised concerns about medical commercialization. The bill was directly drafted by Hong Nam-ki, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, during his tenure as Director of Policy Coordination at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, and is sometimes called "Hong Nam-ki’s long-cherished wish."

In the 21st National Assembly, the bill was separately proposed by Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Won-wook and People Power Party lawmakers Chu Kyung-ho and Ryu Seong-gul. Lee’s bill explicitly states that the Service Industry Development Framework Act does not apply to matters regulated by medical-related laws, while Chu’s bill leaves room by stating, "If there are special provisions in other laws such as the Medical Service Act, those laws shall apply." This is because interpretations of "special provisions" may vary.

A Democratic Party official said, "The basic policy is to reform regulations necessary for innovative corporate activities, but discussions should filter out parts that do not align with the party’s identity, such as medical commercialization."

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